Will of Fire and Hearts of Steel
by TheShatterpoint
Summary: Kakashi and Naruto wake up in a weird world. Their sudden arrival to the deserts of Nevada draws the attention of both Autobots and Decepticons. Naruto/TF Prime crossover.
1. Chapter 1

Please check the Author's note at the end!

Beta'ed by Lohis, thank you! ^^

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Transformers Prime

* * *

Will of Fire and Hearts of Steel

Chapter One

Kakashi woke up with a killer headache.

He felt like he'd been on a month-long mission around the Five Great Countries, then been ran over by a swarm of hyperactive pre-genins and finally been beaten up by an angry, no, _furious_ Tsunade. He was completely drained and almost sure something was trying to hammer its way out from inside his skull. Only years of ninja training kept him from groaning aloud and curling up into a pathetic ball of existence.

Instead of doing just that he decided to find out where he currently was. He tried to gather up his chakra so he could examine his surroundings and investigate possible presences around him before giving away his awakened state. He immediately almost winced. His chakra reserves were practically non-existent. He mentally frowned, wondering if he'd_ really_ been on a month-long nightmare mission. He hadn't felt this weary for ages…

That brought the Copy Nin to another problem. What exactly had he been doing before passing out for a moment (he thought it had been a moment, of course he couldn't be sure)? There had been a mission, he recalled. With his team, now consisting of Naruto, Sakura and that little creepy fellow Sai. Yes, they had been on a mission together on the borders of the Fire Country. Chasing some rogue nins, who should not have been above the rank of a mediocre chuunin. But of course the preliminary information had once again failed them and one of the rogues had been almost jounin-level. Fortunately there had been just three of them, and his team had performed almost flawlessly (for once). They had managed to knock out one of the enemies without any serious injuries. Kakashi had just been taking out the second one when the third had managed to surprise him with a jutsu he had never seen before (a true shame he hadn't seen the rogue nin form the seals, it would have been very interesting to learn that technique with the Sharingan).

Kakashi remembered seeing a ball of blinding light speeding towards him. He had easily leaped away from its course, but the weird light had turned and followed him with alarming velocity. So he had activated the Mangekyou Sharingan, hoping to catch the jutsu with his Kamui before it would hit him.

He remembered seeing Sai and Sakura circle behind the last rogue nin, about to knock her down. He recalled hearing Naruto shout something. The ball of white light had been close, so close but his Kamui had been ready too…

What had followed next had felt like an explosion without the heat. He remembered Naruto's surprised yell, and then everything was white and then black.

And that was all.

Kakashi tried to open his right eye, carefully keeping the Sharingan closed. He didn't know if Obito's gift would be inactive from all the exhaustion, or if it would just drain him dead on the second he opened it. For a moment his vision was blurry and he slowly blinked, trying to clear his gaze.

He heard a soft groan from somewhere to his left. Naruto. At least the boy was alive. He didn't know if the explosion had been caused purely by the unfamiliar jutsu or was it the combination of that and his Kamui. Anyway, Naruto seemed to have got caught up in it as well.

"Naruto?" He called his blond student's name.

"Owwwww… My head hurts…" Naruto complained, but sounded otherwise alright. Good. He blinked some more and slowly pushed himself off of the ground, finally standing again. He needed to make sure his other protégées would be okay too.

He stared at his surroundings.

It looked like a desert. The ground was reddish and dusty, and great rock formations rose towards the darkening sky. A soft breeze ruffled his already messy silver hair. It was quiet and deserted. There was nothing in sight as far as he could see.

Where the hell were they?

"Woah… WOAH! Kakashi-sensei, where the hell are we?"

The elite jounin didn't reply. Indeed, where? They had just been fighting in a forest, damn it! On the borders of Konoha! First Kakashi had thought they might be in Suna, but he'd been there plenty of times and didn't think this was it. He'd never seen a place quite like this, and he had traveled all around the Great Countries.

"Well, I don't think we're in Konoha anymore, Naruto," Kakashi said, tugging down his hitai-ate so it was tilted over his left eye.

Naruto, who had also scrambled up from the ground, turned wildly around and stared at the huge rock formations.

"Almost… almost like Suna, but it kinda feels different…." The blond muttered, and Kakashi thought once again that the kid could be smart when he wanted to.

"Yeah, I thought that too…"

Naruto turned to meet his gaze and frowned.

"Do you… Do you think Sakura and Sai are okay?"

Kakashi didn't honestly know, but he had a feeling.

"I'm pretty sure they're fine. We had almost already won, and they are quite competent fighters after all."

Naruto nodded, looking relieved. Then he continued staring at their new surroundings.

"What do you think happened, Sensei?" The boy asked.

Kakashi scratched the back of his head. If this was a genjutsu, it sure was a weird one. And Naruto was here too, looking very real. Could it have been some weird transport jutsu? He had heard something of techniques like that. And he didn't know all the secrets of the Mangekyou either. There were always stories going around about jutsus going wrong and colliding and so on. He just had never _experienced_ a thing like that before.

"I'm not sure, but I have an idea. But first, how are you feeling?"

Naruto grinned at him. "I'm okay!" He declared. Then he smiled sheepishly. "Though I feel quite jaded. I don't think I could even do a single shadow clone." So, even Naruto's seemingly endless chakra reserves were almost empty. Then it hadn't been just him overusing his Sharingan again. Must have been a side-effect of the explosion.

"Well, we'll probably have to rest a bit. I don't know what that explosion of light was, but it surely drained us both." He rubbed his masked cheek and cautiously eyed the weird world they had been thrown into.

"And let's be careful. We don't know a thing about this place, and now would be a very bad time to bump into any hostile individuals."

* * *

There was a loud clatter, followed by a metallic thump and a screeching noise. The ball of scrap flew through the air and landed neatly in to the "goal". Bulkhead's shout of victory was quickly followed with a groan from Smokescreen and cheers from Miko and Rafael. Bumblebee beeped and chirped excitedly, clapping loudly.

"YEAH! Five-to-two for me!"

"Aw come on! That was practically cheating!"

"No it wasn't! Bulk doesn't cheat! You're just annoyed 'cause he _totally_ owned you!"

Smokescreen scoffed at the comment, but picked up the ball again and the game continued.

The players and their audience were all oblivious of the white-and-red mech standing beside the screens, glaring at the others every now and then and shaking his head in indignation.

Ratchet sighed. That stupid basketball game sure was a pain. Was it really impossible to have even a moment's peace? This was supposed to be a secret base after all! He needed even a little bit of silence to concentrate on his work. Well, at least Wheeljack wasn't currently here. He wasn't sure he could have dealt with the ruckus Bulkhead's annoying friend would surely have caused. After all, the Wrecker was a totally incompetent ruffian. Well, he _was_ a fellow Autobot too, but Ratchet was still relieved the Wrecker didn't spend too much time at the base.

Muttering angrily to himself, the medic tried to block out the sounds of the game and kept his optics locked on the green screens. Why was he trapped in here with these hyperactive beings anyway? Didn't they have anything better to do? And it was Saturday, so Miko too had made her share for the current high volume levels.

"Woah, a great one Bulk!" The girl yelled when the ball once again hit its goal. Ratchet suppressed a groan of frustration.

"Has there been anything to report, Ratchet?"

Hearing Optimus Prime's grave voice, Ratchet glanced over his shoulder at their leader, who had just entered the room. _Finally_ there was someone who wasn't caught up in that loud game or making totally unnecessary and horrible noise.

"No, nothing. All's quiet."

Clatter. Thump. Cheering.

"In a manner of speaking…" Ratchet muttered.

Suddenly there was loud beep and the medic's gaze was within seconds focused on the screens again. The game behind him stopped instantly as the kids and the rest of the 'Bots curiously turned their attention to the medic.

"What is it, Ratchet?" Bulkhead asked, walking a little closer. Ratched didn't immediately reply and instead checked the data in front of him a few times. Well, this was fascinating indeed.

"There's some activity not far from here, in the desert."

Prime came to a halt beside him. Ratchet's optics narrowed slightly.

"The energy is similar to one of a ground bridge… But it definitely_ isn't_ a ground bridge.…"

"Wow Ratch, that's _so _helpful. Is it a ground bridge or not? Make up your mind already!"

The medic ignored Smokescreen's comment. He glanced at Optimus. "I've never seen anything like this. What do you think it is? Decepticons?"

"Well, if it's not quite a ground bridge, I doubt it's 'Cons then," Bulkhead pondered aloud.

"But could it be a trap?" Rafael asked. The boy pushed his glasses further up on his nose, staring first at the screens and then at Ratchet.

"We can't be sure," the medic replied. "It's nothing like the earlier encounters with Decepticons. Of course Megatron could have invented something completely new." He stared at the data on the screen, sincerely hoping that wasn't the case.

"But what if it isn't them," Bulkhead insisted. "What's going on then?"

There was a short silence, after a moment broken by the Prime.

"If this isn't the doing of the Decepticons and we have learned this information about the ground bridge-like energy, then we have a reason to believe so has Megatron," Optimus stated. "This must be promptly investigated. Ratchet, prepare the ground bridge. Bumblebee," their leader turned around and addressed the yellow Autobot. "Go and investigate. Request reinforcements immediately if the situation so requires."

Bumblebee chirped affirmatively. Ratchet made the preparations and hit the switch. The green glowing ground bridge flared to life before them. Ratchet watched as the yellow Urbana 500 raced through the portal tires screeching and wondered what the young scout might find. Was it a trap by Megatron? Or perhaps by Starscream? Or something completely different?

Rafael walked beside the medic. The boy stared after Bumblebee, looking just a little worried. Raf glanced at the white 'Bot quickly and asked.

"What do you think it is? Will 'Bee be alright?"

Ratchet shut down the ground bridge and held his gaze at the dying green glow. "I honestly don't know. But don't worry, Optimus will send help for Bumblebee if he needs us."

Rafael nodded and joined Miko, who was pestering Bulkhead about the weird occurrence with her usual loud voice.

Almost right after the bridge had ceased existing there was a sound of motorcycle's engines roaring, and Arcee and Jack sped from the tunnel, stopping right in front of the group.

Jack climbed off and removed his helmet. Arcee transformed beside him, straightening and crossing her arms. The dark haired boy's gaze stopped at them all one at a time and with a little frown he asked:

"Um, did we miss something?"

* * *

Kakashi had barely finished his sentence when there was a weird sound and a strange green glowing behind them. Kakashi spinned around, two kunais immediately in his hands. Naruto had also turned to face the weird light springing to life before them, lighting up the rapidly darkening evening.

"Sensei…" Naruto trailed off, green glow reflecting from his azure eyes.

Kakashi stepped protectively in front of his student. Naruto's lack of protesting told him how perplexed and nervous the young shinobi was. Otherwise the boy would have been outrageous for Kakashi trying to keep him out of the possible fight. The silver-haired man braced himself to encounter anything that could appear from the glow. He would protect his student, no matter what.

Then something raced out from the light.

It was… Kakashi narrowed his eye. It was a car, a deep red-colored vehicle. But it was nothing like the ones the shinobi had seen in Konoha. It looked almost futuristic. But before he could examine the vehicle further, the thing suddenly started shifting its shape, taking a completely new form.

Kakashi was sure he actually heard Naruto's jaw drop. The Copy Nin's dark grey eye widened as well as he stared at the thing in front of them. To say he had never seen anything like that would be a great understatement. He had never even imagined he would some day encounter something like this.

The stranger was huge. The red metallic form towered above them, the green glow reflecting from the sleek surface for a moment before the glow died out, leaving them in the dusk and gloom. Kakashi noticed the creature (he really had no words for to describe the thing in front of him) was vaguely human shaped, with long arms and legs and so on. But it looked like its form was made of_ car parts_. There were cars in the Great Countries too, but not many and they were definitely not frequently used or seen. But this, this was something completely unfamiliar. The thing was also holding a spear-like item in his hand. Possibly a weapon, Kakashi's brain noted despite the situation. He _was_ an elite ninja after all.

The stranger straightened himself and looked right at them.

Kakashi wasn't sure if he had imagined it, but for a moment he thought he'd seen a flash of surprise in the creature's eyes (it had eyes, weird eyes but eyes nonetheless). Kakashi decided he didn't like the look that followed.

The stranger said something in a language Kakashi had never heard before.

"Did it just talk? What did it say?" Naruto asked a little frantically behind him.

The metallic creature seemed to frown and took a step forward. Kakashi backed a little, holding a kunai in both hands and saying in a clear and commanding voice:

"Stay back!"

The stranger didn't seem too happy to hear his tone of voice. Kakashi backed off farther, pushing Naruto backwards too when the car-whatever-thing came closer, saying something in annoyed voice. With a flick of his wrist, Kakashi send a kunai right at the thing's grey-colored face.

The weapon scratched the strangers face just below the eye, leaving a long but shallow mark. Kakashi's earlier assumptions appeared to be correct when he heard a metallic noise when the kunai hit its target.

The stranger raised one long-fingered (though they looked more like knives to Kakashi) hand to its face and screamed something furiously. The spear in its hand flared into a bluish-glowing light. Then the thing was already storming towards them with impressive speed.

Kakashi and Naruto quickly leaped away to different directions. Naruto's eyes were full of fear and Kakashi admitted that it had been some time from the last fight that had actually made him scared too. But there was something utterly frightening in the whole unfamiliar and menacing situation so he really couldn't blame either of them.

Kakashi cursed his own weak state as the stranger tried to maul him, leaping quickly farther away. He was way too weak for a battle like this. He had practically no chakra, so he couldn't move half as fast as usually. If he had been able to use Raikiri, he might have had a chance against his opponent. But he only had his weapons, so he threw a second kunai, hoping to at least distract the enemy a little. The weapon bounced uselessly from the thing's chest, leaving only a scratch. But the stranger wasn't amused, and brought the spear down where Kakashi had been just second ago.

"_Kakashi-sensei!_"

Suddenly there was a roaring sound, and Kakashi saw a flash of yellow speeding towards the red metal-thing. The two collided with a deafening crash. Kakashi scrambled to his feet and Naruto was suddenly beside him, dragging him farther away from the battle before them. Kakashi realized there were now _two_ strangers fighting against each other. The red one tried to hit the other one with the flaming blue staff, but the yellow creature that looked very much like the one who had attacked them easily dodged it, throwing instead a powerful punch right in the red's face.

The two ninjas were frozen to their places, enthralled by the battle of metal and steel before them. The yellow stranger seemed to be winning, kicking and punching and moving in a very agile way for such a big life form. The moves almost reminded him from taijutsu, and they sure were powerful. The red one was quickly losing, stumbling backwards and trying to keep the other one away with random sweeps of his spear. But with a final blow from the new stranger he was thrown to the ground, seemingly unable to get up.

Then the new stranger turned his attention to the two ninjas staring in awe. The creature took a few steps forwards.

Naruto had his hands on his teacher's shoulders and was hauling him backwards. The stranger halted, and for their surprise, held his hands in a universal "I'm not going to hurt you"-position. The creature let out a beeping, chirping sound.

"What did it say, Sensei?" Naruto's voice sounded a bit hysteric.

_How the hell should I know_? Kakashi thought, but kept staring at the thing, mind blank.

There was a pained groan and all the three glanced at the red one laying on the ground, without a doubt trying to get up. Their apparent savior turned back to them and beeped again almost urgently, then beckoned them to move closer. Then, while the shinobi stared in awe, the stranger transformed into a screaming yellow car.

The car's door opened invitingly.

Naruto drew a shuddering breath.

"Sensei, Sensei, what should we do?"

"I don't know Naruto…"

"Well, that thing did save us, didn't it?"

It sure looked like it, Kakashi thought. But he hadn't survived for almost two decades as a jounin with easily trusting strangers, especially creatures as strange as these. Just because they _seemed_ helpful didn't mean they weren't up to _something_.

Kakashi weighted their options. They could try to fight the red thing again, but Kakashi was sure that the battle would not end well. Without chakra to enhance their movements and without any jutsus to use the fight would be over in no time, and not in their favor. And he didn't know how the yellow one would react if they declined its/his/her offer. They could also try to run, but they were in the middle of a desert with no chakra to boost their speed. If the strangers would follow them - as they without a doubt would - they would be hunted down.

And finally, they could accept the offer and see where it would take them.

The hostile stranger was standing up, muttering furiously and searching for his spear. The car's engines roared urgently.

"Naruto, get in."

Naruto turned his head so fast he could hear his neck crack. The boy stared at him. "Y-You sure? I mean –"

"NOW!"

The red creature was almost standing now, and Kakashi grabbed Naruto by the collar, shoving him towards the car. The blond kid crawled in, followed closely by Kakashi who seriously hoped he was making the right decision. He didn't want Naruto to suffer from his mistakes.

At the moment they were both inside, the car slammed the door shut and raced forwards. There was suddenly another green light appearing out of nowhere, not too far away from them. Kakashi glanced back through the rear window and was astonished to see a red car now giving them a chase. When he turned his gaze back forwards they were already diving into the green light.

* * *

Thank you so much for reading! Reviews and feedback will be more than welcomed!

**AN: **When I first thought about writing a crossover story with TF Prime and Naruto, the idea felt so weird I tried to abandon it right away. But the story kept pestering me, and suddenly I realized I already had an idea for the plot and a few scenes. And I was way too excited about the thought of writing a crossover (I absolutely love crossovers) to just abandon it. So, here it is, the first chapter of Will of Fire and Hearts of Steel!

This is my second fan fiction story. At first I thought I would be posting a few one-shots before this, mainly because I don't know how well I can write a multi-chapter story. But I just couldn't wait, and writing this chapter was so much fun I think I'll concentrate mainly on this now.

I'll try to update regularly, but I know I will have a busy spring so sometimes I just won't have time to update. So there will probably be some longer pauses between the chapters sometimes.

If you read this story and would like to read more, please let me know! I'm still not sure if this is a completely weird idea or not... But I had fun writing this and I'm very eager to continue!

And I haven't read much TF Prime fan fiction yet, so I'm not sure how well I can write one. But I'll do my best!

If there are any mistakes, please let me know so I'll fix them.


	2. Chapter 2

Thank you so much for all the reviews, favorites and follows! Here's chapter two, I hope you'll like it! Please check Author's note at the end again. ^^

Beta'ed by Lohis, thank you!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or TF Prime

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Will of Fire and Hearts of Steel

Chapter Two

For once, the base was quiet.

The atmosphere, however, was tense. They all knew it shouldn't take Bumblebee too long to check out the situation and either request returning to base or for back-up. So the rest of Team Prime was just waiting for a word from their comrade, filling the room with tension and anticipation.

Ratchet stared at the green screens, waiting for the young scout to make contact with the base. He would activate the ground bridge immediately when needed. _It should be any second now…_ Unless it really had been a trap. But Bumblebee was quite a competent soldier, Ratchet reasoned. He could stand his ground long enough to call for help. They just had to trust the scout and his skills.

The rest of the team was standing in silence, waiting for the return of their fellow Autobot. The kids (yes, even _Miko_) were quiet too. Rafael was sitting on the floor, nervously biting his lip and Miko and Jack were standing right beside him. The Autobots were scattered around the bridge port, ready to take action if so needed.

Then the contact came.

"Bumblebee is returning to base!" Ratchet informed, his voice just a little tense. The white-and-red mech quickly moved beside the ground bridge control panel. He hit the switch again, and the green portal appeared before them, lighting up the room.

Rafael scrambled up and took a few steps forward. The green glow reflected from his glasses as the boy waited for his friend to return.

Seconds drifted slowly by. Then the yellow car raced to the base, tires screeching as the vehicle quickly braked, coming to a halt right in front of them.

"He's alright!" Raf exclaimed, relief evident in his voice. Ratchet shut the ground bridge again, and the glow disappeared.

Then the car's door opened, and Ratchet had to blink a few times to make sure what he was seeing was correct. Two _humans_ had quickly slid out of the car. They instantly spotted the robots staring at them and backed off cautiously.

Bumblebee transformed back to his robot form and took a few steps away from the strangers.

There was a moment of utter silence.

The strangers were probably the most peculiar humans Ratchet had ever seen on this planet. Earlier he'd thought Miko was the most distinctive character this place could offer, but the strangers really looked like they belonged in to another world entirely. The medic used the moment of silence to carefully examine the newcomers, as he was sure this was just calm before the storm.

The taller one had silver hair that seemed to defy all the laws of gravity (Well, at least gravity on Earth). He had simple black pants and a long-sleeved shirt with a green military-looking vest over it. He wore sandals and had a small pack hanging from his belt and another, smaller one tied to his right leg. But the most bizarre thing in the man's appearance was the black cloth-mask covering the lower half of his face and a headband with a metallic plate on it tilted over his left eye. Ratchet had no idea how old he was. He _had_ grey hair, but the age was quite hard to figure out when you could see just ¼ of the person's face. Of course the hair could be dyed, like Miko's, though Ratchet really couldn't see the point in doing such a thing.

The other one looked much younger, maybe about Jack's or Miko's age. The boy had spiky blond hair, bright blue eyes and weird marks on his cheeks. He had an orange-and-black outfit and like his companion, wore sandals and a headband over his forehead. The medic noted how both headbands' seemed to have same spiral patterns on them. The mark clearly had some meaning for these people.

Ratchet quickly glanced at the three children, who were gaping at the weird-looking strangers. So, his assumptions that the way they were dressed really wasn't usual among the humans seemed right. He returned his gaze back at the newcomers, noticing how he taller one was standing slightly in front of the boy, without a doubt trying to protect the kid from whatever was to come.

Ratchet observed the silver-haired man curiously. Though the medic fairly often stayed at the base while the other 'Bots went to carry out whatever missions necessary, it really wasn't wise to forget he was a warrior too. He had fought beside his companions in the scarring and dire war against the Decepticons. And he recognized a soldier when he saw one.

The masked man was carefully observing his surroundings. One dark eye quickly scanned them all and finally ceased to stare at Optimus. _Smart man_, Ratchet thought. The stranger seemed to have in no time realized who their leader was. Though he held his single eye's gaze at the Prime, Ratchet knew he was still well aware of everything happening around him.

Ratchet knew the man felt more than a little cornered. There was a hard stare in the lone dark eye, though the medic could see just a little of the hidden fear and weariness there. The man was about to collapse from exhaustion, but still stood his ground. Not bad for a human.

The kid wasn't so skilled in hiding his emotions and was openly staring at them all, eyes wild like some kind of animal's. The medic could see the surprise in the azure eyes when they noticed the other kids among the robots. Ratchet knew the teenager was scared and nervous, but didn't really seem to be frightened. The boy quickly glanced at the taller man and seemed to stand just a little straighter then, like he had gathered enough courage from just quickly looking at his companion.

The stretched silence was abruptly broken by Bulkhead, who clearly didn't care for formalities.

"Uh, 'Bee? Who are they? And why did you bring them here?"

Bumblebee beeped and gestured. Apparently when the scout had arrived, he'd seen Knock Out, that Decepticon-piece-of-scrap attacking the humans.

"But then… They are the ones who caused that weird energy!" Smokescreen spoke their thoughts aloud.

"Seems like it." Arcee agreed.

The 'Bots' attention returned to the strangers. The youth was gaping at them and didn't look like he could understand a word, while the taller one's visible eye was slightly narrowed in what Ratchet presumed was quite well hidden confusion.

"Um, they don't seem to understand us," Rafael said quietly.

At that moment, the blonde stranger said something to his companion with a nervous voice, eyes darting between the robots. Ratchet gasped as he recognized the language. Miko's brown eyes widened almost comically and the girl jumped forwards and yelled.

"Hey, hey! They speak _Japanese_!"

"What?" Jack stared at the girl stupidly.

"She's right", Arcee confirmed. The dark-haired boy turned to her, looking astonished.

"You know Japanese too?" Arcee arched an eyebrow at the question and snorted.

"Jack, English isn't the only language we know. Did you really think so?"

"Um… Well…"

Arcee sighed.

Miko didn't pay any attention to the conversation but yelled excitedly in her native tongue:

"Hey! Are you from Japan too?"

The older man's gaze instantly locked on Miko, and for a moment he looked dumbfounded. Then he spoke for the first time in a deep, tense voice.

"You can understand us?" The tone had just a little touch of bafflement in it.

"Of course!" Miko exclaimed and flailed her arms wildly. "Are you guys from Japan too? What are you doing here?"

"I have no idea what that place is you're talking about."

Miko stared at the strangers. "But – but –"The girl stuttered.

"Miko, please stand back," Prime's deep voice asked, now speaking in her native tongue too. Miko backed off a little, still looking thunderstruck.

Optimus Prime took a few steps forwards, causing the blonde to flinch back a little and the older man to visibly tense. The leader of the Autobots lowered himself to one knee to get a little closer to the strange pair in front of him.

"Welcome, strangers. My name is Optimus Prime. You are safe now."

* * *

Hatake Kakashi had thought he'd seen everything.

He'd graduated from the Academy at the age of five, been chuunin at six and jounin at thirteen. He'd seen war and fought in one before he was even a teenager. He'd been in ANBU and had witnessed the Kyuubi attack the village. He had early earned the title of one of the most elite jounin in whole Konoha and the other countries taught their soldiers to flee on sight of him. He'd been tortured for three days in immense pain in his own mind by Uchiha Itachi and had tutored a team of hyperactive genins. To cut a long story short, he really had a reason to believe there was nothing in the world that could truly make him speechless.

He had been wrong. Right now, Sharingan Kakashi, the great Copy Nin of the Village Hidden in Leaves, was flabbergasted.

The car had dived into the green portal, and almost instantly they had been in a totally different location. He and Naruto had stumbled out of the vehicle and the first thing they had seen was a whole group of those human-like machine-things. He had barely noted their savior transforming back to the other form and joining the other ones. He could only stare at the impossible yet very real sight in front of them.

They sure were far from home.

Though he was truly dumbfounded, he was still and elite ninja and was in no time scanning their surroundings and examining the weird beings in front of them.

They were in a very bizarre-looking place with lots of metal used in the constructions and very futuristic green screens at the other side of the room. The place looked like some kind of base, though he'd never seen rooms quite like this back home. The walls were little rusty, expect the one made of stone with a tunnel entrance. But although there was a big exit in the room, they really had no chance to escape. Not with everybody staring at them like that.

All in all, Kakashi saw six of those machine-things. He also noticed three kids among them (he'd had a hard time believing his eye at first). Their apparent savior, the yellow one, was standing on their left. Next to him (Kakashi had decided it was a "he") stood a little shorter white stranger with some blue and red lines coloring his body. Both were staring at them with great curiosity and amazement.

Next there was the shortest one of the creatures, and Kakashi concluded this one was probably a "she" as the blue-colored creature looked a tad more feminine than the others. She was regarding him with slightly narrowed blue glowing eyes, arms crossed. This one appeared to be a little more suspicious, Kakashi made a mental note.

Next to the blue-colored female, in front of the green screens was a white-red stranger eyeing them carefully. Between the two stood three children, openly gaping at the shinobi. Two boys and one girl, who were all without a doubt civilians. Kakashi quickly moved on in his inspections, he could find more about the kids later. Next he glanced at the thing blocking the entrance, a huge green-colored creature, who was also watching them in awe.

But the last stranger was the one that drew the jounin's attention the most. This one was the tallest of the group and actually made the first two ones they'd encountered seem like shorties. He was colored with blue and red and the metallic surface was full of barely visible scratches and cuts, like the stranger had seen many hard battles and survived. There was a strong aura of leadership surrounding him, and the Hatake was immediately sure this one was the head of the group.

While locking eyes with the leader, Kakashi couldn't help but feel as if he'd looked into the eyes of the Sandaime. Though the idea was absurd, he still couldn't help feeling he was staring at the Third Hokage of Konoha or at least someone very much like the old man…

Suddenly the thick silence was broken when the green one said something in that same alien language the other ones had spoken too. A short conversation followed and the Copy Nin followed the discussion carefully. Apparently their savior seemed really to communicate with just beeping sounds and gestures. He was also confused of how natural the teens were acting and taking part in the conversation, as if it was something they did every day.

"W-what are they talking about?" Naruto asked him in a small voice, but was still heard by the others. The reactions were instant. The metallic creatures seemed to recognize the language, as did the dark-haired teenage girl with faded pink-colored bangs.

A new discussion ensued, mainly between the older boy and the feminine-looking creature. Then the girl yelled loudly:

"Hey! Are you from Japan too?"

Naruto gasped softly beside him. The Copy Nin blinked in amazement.

"You can understand us?"

"Of course!" The girl was waving her arms excitedly and continued. "Are you guys from Japan too? What are you doing here?"

She'd said that weird word again, "Japan". He had absolutely no idea what that was and he told that to the girl. She looked like she couldn't believe her ears.

"But – but – "

"Miko, please stand back."

Kakashi tried his best not to flinch when the tallest of the strangers kneeled in front of them. He swallowed thickly and hoped he wasn't shaking too badly. He stared into the stranger's glowing blue eyes with strength he didn't really feel he had.

"Welcome, strangers. My name is Optimus Prime. You are safe now."

Kakashi remained silent, trying his best not to look intimidated. Behind him Naruto drew a shaky breath.

"We are autonomic robotic organisms from the planet known as Cybertron. You can call as Autobots."

"The _what _from _where_? And what the _hell_ is an Autobot?" Apparently the situation wasn't frightening enough to completely silence the blonde boy behind him. Kakashi didn't know if he should have been exasperated or relieved.

Optimus Prime's (what a weird name, thought Kakashi) gaze shifted to Naruto. "We are sentient robots, now living on this planet and protecting its people."

_Protecting from what?_ The jounin thought. Prime straightened and Kakashi marveled how tall he actually was.

"This," Prime gestured at the others, "is our team."

Optimus Prime introduced the rest of the strangers and the teenagers. Kakashi could sense there had been way too much information in a very short time for Naruto, as his could almost feel the confusion radiating from the boy. The silver-haired man had, however, memorized every name and gathered as much information as he'd could during the introductions. You could never have too much information, and knowledge was something he and Naruto needed the most right now.

"Now we have introduced ourselves," Prime was saying. "We understand this is a bizarre situation for you both, but it would be kind to let us know your names too."

Kakashi shifted a bit. He felt Naruto's gaze at his back, silently asking what to do.

The Hatake didn't want to tell his name, but he wasn't sure if there was any real reason they shouldn't do that. And these "Autobots" had told their names as well and Kakashi couldn't sense any hostility in any of them so…

"Kakashi," He said blankly. "Hatake Kakashi."

"And I'm Uzumaki Naruto!" The blonde shouted.

Kakashi bowed a little. "Nice to meet you. Thank you for helping us in our grave situation."

Bumblebee (really, what was it with these funny names?) chirped happily. Kakashi interpreted that as a "you're welcome".

"Hatake Kakashi, I presume you didn't come to that desert on purpose."

"No, we didn't," the Copy Nin agreed shortly. He didn't want to share too much information, at least not yet. He'd have to carefully think about the situation they'd been thrown into before making any rash decisions. But the Autobots were naturally curious.

"So how did you get here?" Arcee, the cautious one, asked.

"There was energy similar to a ground bridge, the portal through which you were transported here, where you were found," Ratchet explained. "I assume you were the cause of it."

Kakashi tilted his head, turning his gaze to the white robot. "We don't know how we got here. We just woke up in the desert." Naruto shifted beside him but didn't say a word. Kakashi was grateful for that. He suddenly felt quite dizzy and his vision almost blurred for a moment. He blinked and hardly managed to stay upright.

"Apologies, we have kept you here for far too long," Prime was speaking again with a slightly apologetic voice. "Unfortunately this place isn't particularly comfortable for humans to inhabit, but we will find you a place to rest."

"Thank you. Anything will do just fine." Kakashi would have bowed again if he hadn't felt so damn dizzy.

Prime gestured at the yellow Autobot. "Bumblebee, please escort them to a suitable place."

After a minute, Bumblebee was leading them through large gloomy corridors to a medium-sized room with high ceiling and nothing more than a few tables against the furthest wall. The yellow Autobot beeped apologetically.

"No, this is fine," Naruto answered and grinned. "And uh, Bumblebee, was it?" The robot nodded happily.

Naruto smiled. "Thanks for saving us and all."

Bumblebee chirped and waved them to enter. Kakashi knew he was going to stay and guard them on the other side of the door. Though the Autobots had been very kind and helpful to them, the shinobi knew they weren't still fully trusted. Or at least that would have been incredibly stupid of them. Kakashi wouldn't have trusted himself either if he'd been in the strangers' situation.

Kakashi slid now against the wall until he was sitting against it. Naruto sat cross-legged next to him.

"Woah, what a day," the blond huffed. Kakashi chuckled tiredly.

"You okay, Sensei?" Naruto asked in a worried voice.

"I'm fine, Naruto, just tired." The jounin's eye curved happily.

Naruto smiled and then frowned. "So, what do you think? Are they okay?"

Kakashi pondered at the question for a while. "I think they are," he finally replied. "I would be very surprised if that Prime fellow would have been lying to us." Yes, the leader sure was like Sandaime, Kakashi had no doubt of that.

"But you didn't tell them about that jutsu and light," the blonde pointed out quietly.

Kakashi shook his head slightly and quickly regretted the movement. He waited for the room to stop spinning. "No, I didn't. They seem to be trustworthy, but I wouldn't want them to know about our abilities just yet. We are off better if they underestimate us a little."

"Yeah…" Naruto snorted. "Though we can't really do any jutsus now, can we?"

Kakashi smiled under his mask.

"Naruto, we need to rest a bit. They probably want to talk to us again tomorrow." He glanced at the door and sighed. "We'll just have to trust them for now. I doubt either of us is strong enough to take on the guard."

"Don't worry Sensei," Naruto reassured. "We'll be fine."

_I really hope so, Naruto_. With that thought, Kakashi's dark eye drifted close and he fell asleep almost immediately.

* * *

Ratceht watched as Bumblebee led the newcomers to the corridors, quickly disappearing from the view. There was a short silence, finally broken by Jack.

"Well, that was interesting."

"That was SO cool!" Miko yelled. "Did you see their clothes? And that boy was like our age!"

"Miko, calm do-" Jack tried to quiet his friend, unsuccessfully.

"And he had, like, these whiskers on his cheeks! And those weird headbands and the other one had a mask! A_ mask_! "

"Miko –"

"And how can they not know about Japan? They were speaking Japanese, though with a weird dialect and all. Oooh, maybe they are _aliens_ or -"

"MIKO!"

"What?"

Raf glanced at his watch and gasped.

"Wow, it's late! We better get going now or I'll be grounded for a month!"

"Bulk, can you give us a ride home?" Miko yelled. Bulkhead didn't look too enthusiastic about the thought of leaving when the others were clearly going to discuss about the happenings of the evening, but the green mech still shrugged and agreed.

"Um, sure. Let's get you home, kids." The 'Bot then transformed into the familiar green vehicle and opened the door helpfully.

"Cool! But you gotta fetch us first thing in the morning!" Miko demanded while climbing to the truck, Jack and Rafael right behind her. "I wanna be here when they wake up!"

"Well," Arcee began when the green truck had disappeared to the tunnel. "What do you think? Could they be spies? I mean, Megatron has worked with humans before. Think about that Silas guy."

"They seemed to be telling the truth," Optimus answered. "I believe they had no intentions coming here. I doubt they even know where they are right now."

"And don't you think the Decepticons would send someone, uh, _less suspicious_ if they wanted to infiltrate the base?" Smokescreen pointed out. Ratchet hid a smile. The kid could act mature when he wanted to. But Arcee wasn't going to give up just yet.

"But they are hiding _something_!" She insisted. Smokescreen scoffed.

"_Of course_ they are hiding something! They would be fools to tell us everything right away!"

"For now, we will let them stay here," Optimus interrupted the brewing argument when Arcee opened her mouth in indignation. "We will keep an eye on them and they won't be let near the relics or information about our location. However, we will inform them about the Decepticons. First thing they had to deal with here was being attacked by Megatron's henchman. They have the right to know."

Ratchet nodded. "We could talk to the older one first, Hatake Kakashi if I remember correctly." Which he did, of course. "After all, he was clearly a soldier."

The rest of the team complied. Arcee narrowed her eyes but didn't object.

"I'm going to go with 'Bee and keep an eye on them," the blue 'Bot muttered, leaving the room.

Ratchet let out a little sigh, wondering what tomorrow would bring in its wake. There had been way too much drama for him in one evening already, but he doubted the next day would be any better.

* * *

A loud crash echoed through the bridge of the _Nemesis_. All the Decepticon minions present fidgeted in their places nervously, hoping the rage currently focused on their red-colored officer wouldn't later be directed on them. Lord Megatron's fury was something none of them wanted to experience.

"TWO LOUSY HUMANS AND YOU LET THEM _ESCAPE?!_"

The henchmen cringed. Lord Megatron sure was angry… again.

"But – but there was an Autobot too!" Knock Out scrambled up from the floor where his leader had just a moment ago hurled him. "I was ambushed!"

"YOU WOULDN'T HAVE HAD TO CONFRONT PRIME'S FOOLS IF YOU HADN'T BEEN WASTING TIME IN THE FIRST PLACE!"

"But they ruined by paintwork!" Knock Out pointed at the scratch on his face. "They had to pay!"

Another crash was heard and the red mech flew through the air again, landing with a loud _thump_ beside the entrance, activating the motion censored door.

"If you dare to fail another mission because of so ludicrous reasons ever again, you won't have anything _left _to be ruined!"

Knock Out grunted affirmatively and fled the room with as much pride as he could.

The minions shivered in fear. What wouldn't they give to be anywhere else right now…

"Why is it so hard for these fools to accomplish even the simplest of tasks!" Megatron roared, slamming his fist to the nearest minion's face. The poor fellow flew through the air, slamming to the wall and didn't get up. The leader of the Decepticons turned towards the henchmen still standing and bellowed:

"_Get me Soundwave_!"

* * *

Thank you for reading! Feedback and reviews are more than welcomed!

**AN**: Well, here's chapter two! This was kind of hard to write because of all these introductions and so on, but I think it still turned out fine. Anyway, I hope you like it!

If there are any mistakes, please let me know.


	3. Chapter 3

Thank you so much for all the reviews, favorites and follows! ^^

Beta'ed by Lohis, thank you!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or TF Prime

* * *

Will of Fire and Hearts of Steel

Chapter Three

When Naruto woke up he had no idea where he was.

He scrambled up, looking warily around in the almost empty room. The place was gloomy with half of the ceiling lights off, so it was dark enough to sleep but bright enough to see around as well. Kakashi-sensei was asleep, leaning against the wall. Naruto calmed down a little after noticing his sensei. Then the incidents of the previous day came crashing to his mind. So, he was in an unknown location with those Auto… _Autobots_ or whatever, apparently pretty far away from home. He sighed and sleepily rubbed his cheek.

He'd been sleeping on the floor, hands pillowed under his head. It had been a rather uncomfortable way to spend the night, but Naruto wasn't going to complain. It was warm and dry and he had been so tired he hadn't really cared where he slept. He tried to stretch his aching muscles a bit, only resulting in a jolt of pain throughout his body.

He glanced at Kakashi-sensei, who was still sleeping, sitting against the wall. Naruto wondered how tired his teacher must have been if he was still asleep.

Naruto himself felt much better than the previous day, although he still couldn't really access his chakra reserves without probably passing out. Damn. Naruto wasn't used to this feeling. He knew Kakashi-sensei had a habit of using up his chakra every now and then but Naruto had always had ridiculously large chakra reserves and wasn't usually easy to wear down. He decided he didn't like this feeling at all.

He looked around in the room. There was nothing expect the steel tables so he had no idea what time it was. He looked back at his sensei. The jounin looked so peaceful, sleeping there so Naruto really didn't have the heart to wake him up.

A couple of years ago Naruto wouldn't have been able to resist the chance to catch a glimpse of the Copy Nin's face. Now he was still curious (very _very _curious), but he wasn't stupid enough to try anything. Even though the jounin seemed to be fast asleep his student knew he would be awake at the second he tried to peel off the mask (and the other one under it). And Naruto would probably have a kunai in his throat. Ninjas tended to be a little jumpy, even while asleep.

"Don't you know it's rude to stare, Naruto?"

The boy jumped and yelped.

"WHAT? How long have you been awake?!"

Kakashi-sensei chuckled, lifting his head and blinking one gray eye open.

"Just woke up. How are you feeling?"

"Better, I think…" The blonde scratched the back of his head absentmindedly. "Though I'm still low on chakra."

Kakashi-sensei nodded thoughtfully. Naruto saw his sensei hadn't recovered that much either. The jounin was paler than usual and had a dark circle under his visible eye, but luckily didn't seem to be as tired as last night.

"Are you okay, Sensei?"

The Copy Nin's eye curved happily. "I'm fine," he assured. "Still don't have much chakra but it could be a lot worse."

Naruto nodded, remembering the time his teacher had been bedridden for days after the fight with Zabuza and later with the Akatsuki. He was more than glad Kakashi-sensei wasn't incapacitated now, as he really wouldn't want to deal with this all alone.

"Do you think it's morning already, Sensei?"

Kakashi ran a gloved hand through his silver hair. "I'm not sure, but I guess it's something around dawn or so."

Naruto watched his teacher slowly rise. The boy remained where he was, sitting cross-legged on the floor.

"Um, Sensei? Do you know what we're going to tell them yet?"

The jounin was silent for a moment, one hand absently touching the tilted hitai-ate over his eye. The lone gray eye fixed its gaze on the blond boy on the floor.

"First we'll see what they are going to tell us about this place. I think we can tell them who we are and some of our talents… But don't say anything about jutsus or chakra. Not yet, at least." Kakashi-sensei rubbed his mask-covered chin with a pensive look in his dark eye. "And nothing too precise about the Five Great Countries either, but otherwise I think it's alright. After all, I think they'll tell us more if we share some information with them too."

Naruto nodded vigorously, a smile on his face. He couldn't deny that he was actually very enthusiastic about telling about Konoha to their new acquaintances. He really hoped he could have demonstrated some cool jutsu to the other kids, like Rasengan, but Kakashi-sensei was probably right.

His teacher glanced at the door.

"I'm going to take a look around, Naruto," the jounin said. "They will probably want to talk with us again soon." The silver-haired shinobi returned his gaze to the blonde again. "Will you be okay if I leave for a moment?"

Naruto huffed in indignation.

"I'm not a kid anymore, Sensei! Of course I'll be fine!"

His teacher scratched the back of his head sheepishly, eye curving. "Ah, of course Naruto, sorry." Then the jounin tried to ruffle his student's hair (just to spite him, Naruto was sure), and the blonde ducked out of the way. Kakashi-sensei chuckled, heading for the door. Naruto watched as his sensei waved his hand in goodbye, disappearing quietly to the corridor.

* * *

Hatake Kakashi quietly opened the door, stepping out without a sound. He might have been low on chakra but he was still a shinobi, and being a shinobi was all about moving in silence.

"Morning."

Hatake Kakashi did not jump or flinch or even tense at the words. He simply turned around to look at Arcee standing behind him, arms crossed and leaning against the wall.

"Morning," the Copy Nin replied, eye curving in smile like he hadn't just been caught. Well, he had known it had been more than very unlikely that he'd been able to sneak out without anybody noticing. He could have used the shunshin to teleport out of the room or conceal himself with genjutsu, but he really didn't want to risk getting caught while using strange skills to stalk around the base. Kakashi mentally snorted. Like he'd had any chakra left for a genjutsu.

Arcee pushed herself off the wall, moving to stand beside him.

"Prime wants to talk to you," the Autobot said with a slight scowl.

Kakashi nodded. "I thought as much."

Right at that moment he heard heavy footsteps coming their way. Bumblebee appeared behind the corner, the three kids tagging right behind the yellow robot.

"Hello!" The dark-haired girl yelled, waving excitedly at him with her free hand, as in the other one she had a large plastic bag. Kakashi raised his hand in a salute.

"Yo."

"We thought we could talk with Naruto for a while. That's okay?" The excitement in the girl's voice was clear.

Kakashi smiled behind his mask, eye forming a crescent.

"Of course," he agreed happily. "I'm sure he'd be quite excited about it."

"SWEET! Let's go!" Miko jumped at the door, and the three kids, after greeting Arcee, slipped to the room. Kakashi rubbed his ear. That girl was almost as loud as Naruto. He truly wished he wouldn't be stuck with the two alone. He doubted his sensitive hearing would survive that.

Kakashi followed Arcee through the corridors, memorizing the way back to their room. He noticed that the blue robot gave him wary glances every now and then. Kakashi tried to appear as harmless as possible, but he knew it was quite ineffective while he was wearing a mask and a military vest.

They soon emerged to the room with the screens and the tunnel entrance. Everyone but Bumblebee, having stayed at guard, was there, obviously waiting for him.

"I hope you rested well, Hatake Kakashi," Optimus Prime said.

"We did, thank you for your kindness," Kakashi answered, bowing a little. Straightening, he fixed a steady gaze at Prime. "I assume you want to talk."

"It would be the best for us all if we both shared some information as soon as possible," Prime replied, returning the gaze.

The Hatake nodded and then climbed up the stairs to the upper level, so he was almost on eye-level with the Autobots. It was quite reassuring to be finally able to talk with the robots without having to look upwards all the time.

"Uh, so how's the kid? Naruto, was it?" Bulkhead was asking.

"He's fine. The children went to talk to him."

Kakashi leaned against the railing, the elevator doors behind him. All the Autobots present seemed to be pretty much staring at him. He stifled the urge to fidget. He was an elite shinobi. Elite ninjas _did not_ fidget nervously, even if there were giant robots staring at them.

"So, you don't have any idea where you are right now?" Ratchet asked.

Kakashi nodded. The medic frowned and turned to face the screens. After a moment something appeared on the green displays. Kakashi took a step towards them, examining the picture in front of him. It was a map, but the Copy Nin had never seen a map like this before. He desperately searched for familiar coastlines or landmarks, but found none. There was no place like Konoha or any other one of the Great Countries in sight. Kakashi continued inspecting the map, the silence growing heavy.

"Where is this 'Japan' the girl was talking about?" The jounin finally asked.

Ratchet pointed at an island located on the right side of the map. Still nothing familiar.

Kakashi stuffed his hands in his pockets and stared blankly at the screens. He tried to ignore the sinking feeling he and Naruto wouldn't be going home anytime soon.

The Autobots seemed without words understand the situation. Ratchet coughed, working with the displays and the map zoomed on the area on a continent on the other side of the map.

"Your current location is in a country called United States of America, state of Nevada. You were found in a desert nearby."

Kakashi nodded. The Autobots had given him more information already than he had first thought. Though, all these names really didn't matter anything to him. But now he at least knew something about his location. That was a start.

He then recalled a piece of information he'd learned the previous night.

"You said you were here to protect someone," Kakashi stated.

"That is correct," Optimus agreed. The tall robot took a step forwards, so he was standing right in front of Kakashi. The ninja wondered how anyone could ever become accustomed to the presence of the Autobot leader. There was something in Optimus Prime the jounin found incredibly intimidating, even though the red-and-blue robot hadn't acted even in a remotely threatening way. But power was almost radiating from the being in front of him, and as a soldier Kakashi was forced to find it a tad menacing.

"As I told yesterday," Prime started, "we come from a planet called Cybertron. However, our home was destroyed during centuries of civil war. We had to leave our planet as refugees." Prime's voice had an edge of sadness in it. The Copy Nin understood the Autobot leader perfectly. He couldn't even imagine how hard it would be to leave Konoha after first seeing it destroyed in the rage of war.

"We came on Earth for the Energon resources, our source of energy and life force, stored here during the war. But our enemies, known as Decepticons, followed us. Now we're protecting the humans inhabiting this planet, as the Decepticons aren't known for valuing other life forms," Optimus Prime concluded.

Kakashi tilted his head. "I presume these 'Decepticons' are the ones that attacked us in the desert?"

"You are right," Prime confirmed. "The individual that attacked you was Knock Out, a henchman of Megatron. He is the leader of the Decepticons."

The Copy Nin nodded. "Any chance they'd be leaving us alone after failing to catch us?"

Optimus Prime gave him a grave look.

"I find that very unlikely."

The Hatake ran a hand through his hair. So, in addition of being thrown into a completely strange world, he and Naruto also had a war lord after them. Great, just great. Could this get any worse?

"So, um, where are _you_ from?" Smokescreen, the Autobot with the red and blue lines and the screaming 38s on the sides, asked curiously.

Kakashi took a deep breath. This would probably take a while.

* * *

Kakashi-sensei had barely left when the door was opened again. Naruto stared as the three kids slipped inside, each carrying a huge plastic bag.

"MORNING!" The girl with the pink bangs yelled enthusiastically. Naruto watched as the dark-haired boy said something to the girl with that funny language, apparently (and unsuccessfully) trying to calm her down.

"Uh, hello," Naruto replied, scratching the back of his head and smiling slightly. Then the blonde's attention shifted to the bags the teenagers were currently putting against the wall. "What are those?"

"We figured you probably wouldn't want to sleep another night on the floor, so we brought you some sleeping bags and stuff," she announced. Naruto's smile widened.

"Gee, thanks! It was a little uncomfortable… Uh, you were Miko, right?"

"Yup! It's _sooo _cool to meet you!"

Naruto totally agreed. They had been introduced yesterday, but it was totally different to actually meet the first other humans they'd seen after getting into this weird place. And they were teenagers too!

"I don't know if you remember but these are Jack and Raf," Miko chattered, waving at the two boys that both gave him a wave. "We've known the Autobots for a while now, aren't they awesome? You'll surely like them too when you get to know them!" The short kid with the glasses then managed to interrupt the girl's non-stop rambling and said something. Then he seemed to concentrate and said with a weird accent but otherwise fine pronunciation:

"Good morning. I am Rafael." Then he smiled sheepishly and said something to Miko with that weird language again.

"He also says it's good to meet you," Miko translated with a grin. Naruto smiled at the boy.

"Morning. I'm Naruto. Nice to meet you," he replied, hoping the kid could understand at least something. It was nice that the other boy had bothered to learn even a few words of his language. Then he frowned a little and moved his gaze back to Miko.

"What's that weird language you're speaking?"

Miko's eyes widened. "English, of course! Haven't you heard it before?"

"Um, no."

Raf was speaking again. Naruto found himself getting a little frustrated as he couldn't understand anything. Luckily Miko was quick to translate.

"Raf asked where you are from then if you haven't heard any English. It's the world language after all!"

"Well, I'm from a village called Konohagakure. It's the Hidden Village of the Fire Country." Naruto replied without a second thought.

There was a moment of silence as the three kids stared at him, two because they didn't understand a word and one because she understood perfectly and still had no idea what he was talking about.

"I've never heard of a place like that!" Miko exclaimed. "Is it in Japan?"

Naruto frowned. "'Japan?' What's that?" Then his eyes widened as he remembered the discussion from yesterday. "Hey, you were talking about this 'Japan' last night too!"

"Haven't you heard from Japan before?" Miko sounded disbelieving.

"Um, not before yesterday evening."

The teenage boy with the black hair quickly said something to Miko before the girl could speak again.

"What did he say?" Naruto asked.

Miko smiled sheepishly. "Well, he told us to slow down and me to translate…"

Naruto laughed, and the boy smiled a little. Miko seemed to quickly translate their conversation to this "English". The boy with the glasses, Rafael, frowned and clearly asked something. Miko, too, seemed to think about something and then asked:

"What is a 'hidden village'?"

Naruto remembered Kakashi-sensei's order not to tell too much about himself. But he wasn't going to tell them everything, of course, just the basics.

"Well, it's a ninja village."

"A WHAT?

"Ninja village. All the Great Countries have one," Naruto repeated as it was obvious. Well it was, for him at least. He'd known the other teens were civilians, but surely they must know about ninjas, right?

"Then… are you a _ninja_?" Even Rafael and Jack looked like they finally understood something, as the boys were staring at them both with incredulous expressions.

"I am! And some day, I'll be the Hokage! Uh, that's the leader of our village."

Miko seemed to completely ignore the rest of his sentence. She looked like she would soon explode from excitement.

"That is so _COOL_!" The girl looked like her dream had come true.

The other boys were once again demanding for translation. After hearing the discussion in their own language, they were staring at the blonde, disbelief now clear in their eyes.

"A NINJA! Can you do any cool things? Like turn invisible?" To say that Miko was excited would have been terrible understatement.

"Ummm…" Naruto hesitated a little, remembering his teacher's warning not to tell about jutsus or chakra. Then his grin widened and he pulled a few shuriken from his holster, spinning them around his fingers. The other children were like hypnotized. Naruto practically beamed. If something as easy as that was enough to impress them, what would they say about shadow clones or Rasengan? Then he frowned again.

"Don't… don't you have any ninjas?"

Miko shook her head, brown eyes still wide.

"No, well in _movies _and history books but not really… "

"What? You don't have any soldiers then?"

"Of course we have soldiers, but, like ordinary soldiers."

Naruto had no idea what she meant by that. He put the shuriken back to the holster, wondering how it was possible that the others had no ninjas.

"Whoops, I forget to translate again… "Miko went on talking to the boys. Jack clearly asked something and Miko laughed, forwarding the question to Naruto.

"Jack asks what kind of ninja wears orange?"

"Hey, there's nothing wrong with my clothes! And I like direct action more than sneaking around anyway. Kakashi-sensei is better in that."

"Wait, sensei?" Miko interrupted. "Is he your teacher? Like, your _ninja_ teacher?"

Naruto nodded proudly. "Yup, Kakashi-sensei is like, one of the best ninja in my village!" _Uh oh, I probably shouldn't have said that…_

"Wow! Does he really have grey hair? How old _is_ he? Why does he wear that mask? Can _he_ turn invisible?"

"Hey hey, wait a second, you haven't told anything about this place to me yet!" Naruto asked quickly, hoping to divert the girl's attention from his teacher. A broad smile appeared on Miko's face and the girl started enthusiastically to tell him about countries and places he'd never heard before.

* * *

After a rather long yet not too precise report about the Five Great Countries, Konohagakure and himself, Kakashi fell silent, as did the rest of the room.

The jounin was pleased that the Autobots seemed to believe him. Based on the robots and children's reactions on them he had been quite sure that "a shinobi" was pretty unfamiliar term with the inhabitants of this place. He'd been correct. In this place, really ninjas weren't nearly as mundane as back home.

So the good news was they believed him. But it still left the question where they actually were unanswered.

They had tried to find a place similar to Konoha and other Great Countries on Earth, unsuccessfully. The maps were all totally unfamiliar to him. It was a whole another world. There were some similarities, like the language. According to Earth's history there had also been ninjas in that same area they called "Japan", but a long time ago. So although there were some truly confusing cultural similarities, the geography and the places just didn't match.

Kakashi ran a hand through his silver hair – again. His headache, which had been forgotten for a few blissful moments, had returned with pounding force. It more than annoyed him, as now or never was the moment he needed to really concentrate. He tried to ignore the pain and focus on the issue on hand.

Suddenly a thought occurred to him, or more accurately a memory.

"Yesterday, you were talking about a 'ground bridge like energy'…" The Copy Nin directed his words at Ratchet "What exactly is a ground bridge?"

"It's a method of transport we use to get around the planet. A smaller version of a space bridge, that can teleport the user to any place on Earth," the medic informed. Then the white robot's eyes widened slightly.

"What is it, Ratchet?" Arcee asked.

"It… it could have been a _dimensional_ bridge… "

"A dimensional bridge?"

"I know you heard me quite well, Bulkhead. It has happened before." Ratchet glanced at Optimus shortly. "Like with Skyquake and the kids back then. But stronger. Much stronger."

Kakashi wasn't sure what the topic was exactly, but he had an idea.

"So to cut it short, me and Naruto came here from another dimension?"

"It seems like it," Ratchet confirmed.

That actually didn't sound so weird. The Kamui had the ability to transfer object to another dimension. And that collision with the unknown jutsu could be the cause of this all…

"But that doesn't explain _why_ they are here," Arcee pointed out. "What was the _cause_ of that dimensional bridge?"

Hatake Kakashi suddenly became very aware of the fact that all the gazes in the room were immediately directed at him alone.

_Well, damn._

He didn't want to tell them about Kamui, he really didn't. It would just lead to more questions about their abilities, about his eye and how he got it and what exactly he could do. He wasn't yet sure if he could trust these beings with information so important.

But could he really refuse? Kakashi inspected the robots staring at him. Arcee looked suspicious, Ratchet wary and Smokescreen and Bulkhead just plain curious. Prime's expression was something he just couldn't decipher. How would they react if he wouldn't tell them? How would they react if he did tell them? He had no idea.

Just when he'd started to feel a little more uneasy, there was a hissing sound of the elevator doors opening behind him and someone entered the room.

* * *

The deserts of Nevada were quiet.

The first rays of the rising sun colored the enormous rock formations with flaming red. The eastern sky was rapidly lightening, the golden sun climbing from behind the horizon. The air was getting warmer, a slow gentle breeze blowing through the deserted, dusty landscape.

Suddenly there was a flare of green light, quickly expanding into a large vortex glowing in the dawn. A few seconds drifted by. Then a large figure stepped out from the glow.

There was no soul on sight to witness the occurrence. There were no humans or animals nearby, only red dusty land and rocks as far as the eye could see. As the figure strode to the desert the portal disappeared, leaving no trace of its existence.

Soundwave slowly tilted his head, scanning the desert before him. The reddish sunlight reflected from the dark visor as the 'Con examined the area with care.

The coordinates were exactly same as Knock Out had used previous evening, having been send to find about the strange energy that had flared in the desert (the medic had been the first to notice it, much to the dismay of the Intelligence officer). The red mech had poorly failed the simple task assigned to him and now it was up to Soundwave to clean up the mess. The Communications Chief had been given the mission to find out anything that the doctor might have (_had_) missed yesterday.

The grey-blue mech started slowly searching the area. A few minutes passed as the Decepticon carefully scanned the surroundings. Suddenly one of the mech's tentacles swiftly darted forward, grabbing a small object that had been lying on the ground. The 'Con carefully brought it in front of him for closer inspection.

It was a knife, sharp from the both sides. In its surface the mech saw countless tiny scratches, indicating that the weapon had been used regularly before its owner had lost it. Ah, so this was the knife the human had attacked Knock Out with. Soundwave might have snorted if he had not been, well, himself. Only Knock Out could have been harmed with something like that. Soundwave, too, had seen the oh-so-terrible wound on the medic's cheek.

The descriptions of the humans found from the area truly were peculiar. According to Knock Out, the other human had seemed to be a fighter, if the military vest and the attack were anything to go by. Then there had been the other one, but the doctor had told that the younger individual had not been as aggressive. And now the Autobots seemed to have seized them. Lord Megatron wanted to know more about these humans, and now it was Soundwave's mission to gather all the data available.

After a quick search, the Decepticon had found another knife too, identical to the first. Soundwave tilted his head, examining his findings. He was sure he could learn at least something about the humans by investigating the weapons.

When he was sure there was nothing else here to find, the Decepticon Chief of Communications slowly turned around to face the appearing portal. Then he stepped into the ground bridge, disappearing with the green glow as he'd never been there.

* * *

Thank you for reading! Again, feedback is more than welcomed!

**AN**: Here's chapter three, I hope you'll like it! I find these chapters with all the introductions quite hard to write as I try my best to make the reactions and all as believable as possible. I really hope I did okay... But I'm so glad people seem to like this and I thank you again for all the feedback, favorites and follows!

If there are any mistakes, please tell me.


	4. Chapter 4

Thank you again for the reviews, favorites and follows! ^^

Beta'ed by Lohis, thanks again!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or TF Prime

* * *

Will of Fire and Hearts of Steel

Chapter 4

The present conversation was probably one of the most bizarre and interesting ones Ratchet had had in a long time. After Optimus had told Hatake Kakashi about their history, the masked man had started an explanation of his own and claimed to be a ninja (which Ratchet and nobody else had trouble believing after he'd shown them what he could do with a throwing star. The medic still had to glance every now and then at the weapon now impeded in the stone wall). Then the man had started to tell them about his home.

Ratchet had noticed how the grey-haired ninja told nothing too exact about the "Hidden Village" he lived in, reinforcing his impression that the man truly was a soldier. The medic was certainly curious about Hatake's words and hoped the man would some day tell them more about the place he came from as it had really sounded fascinating.

The discussion about the arrival of the two ninjas (Ratchet had been rather surprised when he had heard that the kid was a ninja too. Wasn't he close to Miko's and Jack's ages?) had soon followed. The theory about the dimensions felt plausible to the medic. If the kids had once gotten into another dimension close to theirs – well, into a space between dimensions, to be precise - why wouldn't it be possible to travel into dimensions further away? Dimension with whole other worlds?

And then there was of course the question how the two ninjas had managed to find a portal so powerful it could transport them all the way here. Ratchet had made quick calculations in his head and come to the conclusion it would have taken about 10 times as much Energon to open such a portal as currently was available to the Autobots.

That was also the question Hatake Kakashi seemed to be quite reluctant to answer.

When the masked man had first arrived at the base, he'd been cautious and tense and seemingly ready to fight if necessary. Now he had been much more relaxed. The man's pose had been almost laid-back, with his hands in his pockets but still a sharp look in that one visible dark-grey eye, indicating that despite the relaxed stance the man didn't let his attention slip, not even for a moment.

When Arcee had voiced the medic's thoughts by pointing out the problem, the ninja had tensed ever-so-slightly. Ratchet could now see the contemplating look in Hatake Kakashi's eye as the one-eyed man remained silent, watching them all warily. The white-red 'Bot quickly glanced at Optimus, but he wasn't sure what his friend and leader was going to do. He returned his gaze back to the ninja, narrowing his optics slightly.

Was Hatake going to answer the question? Or would he remain silent? Or perhaps refuse to answer? The medic found himself to be awfully curious about whatever the ninja was hiding. He must have known something about the dimensional portal, Ratchet was sure. But what was it and why was he so adamant not to reveal it?

But he never found out if Hatake Kakashi was going to give them an answer or not as suddenly there was someone (he had a pretty good guess who) coming to the base, elevator doors opening as the person stepped in.

* * *

Special Agent William Fowler had a bad day.

Well, a bad morning anyway. He hadn't even had a chance to drink his morning coffee when he'd already gotten a phone call and an order to check the situation in Nevada, as there had been a strange energy spike detected in the forlorn deserts. And now his superiors wanted him to pay a visit for a certain seemingly abandoned missile silo in the area and make sure everything was as supposed.

Nevada, he grumbled under his breath. Of course it had to be _Nevada_. For some people a mention of some desolate deserts of the state probably didn't mean anything but to Agent Fowler it equaled Trouble, with a capital T. Because a certain team of alien robots had camped there, usually all the weird happenings in the area had something to do with Team Prime. Scratch that, it felt more like _all _the strange occurrences around the whole globe had something to do with Team Prime (thanks to that darned ground bridge that could reach all the corners of Earth) and/or their sworn enemies, Megatron and his lot.

And that was why Special Agent Fowler was now on his way to one missile silo situated in the otherwise empty deserts. He was ready to bet his small salary that the Autobots had something to do with that weird energy. Perhaps it was a ground bridge gone wrong or one of that medic's experiments had gone berserk, he thought, probably nothing _too_ serious. And after the visit he could assure his bosses that the famous National Security was not under a threat and then finally have his cup of heavenly morning coffee. With lots and lots of sugar.

He stepped into the elevator and descended to the Autobot base, hoping Optimus Prime would be present for once.

The doors hissed open.

"PRIME!" Fowler yelled, stepping out. However, the words he was about to say died a silent death as he realized the sight in front of him.

Agent Fowler really thought he had been quite patient with the Autobots and their antics. When working with Team Prime, strange things just tended to happen. Like evil aliens constantly copying his vehicles (that was utterly annoying!) and huge fights between gigantic robots and he was the one whose work was to try and cover it all up so the civilians could sleep their nights in peace.

Speaking of civilians, then there were also the civilian kids. Kids, for goodness' sake! That one day he had just walked to the base and found the three _teenagers _(well, at least two and half) hiding behind Bulkhead. Fowler still cringed at the thought of his superiors knowing there were three ordinary children very much aware of one of the most confidential military secrets in the country. Apparently the Autobots were real trouble magnets as another civilian had also encountered the team of alien robots. Fowler still couldn't believe that the dark-haired boy's mother knew about Team Prime. Although that fact did have its perks, he had to admit.

So Special Agent Fowler thought he had been not just a little but overly generous to both the civilians and the Autobots as he had not reported any of these incidents. But he had still prayed that no one else would come across the Autobots and that everything would just for once go as it should.

Seemed like that had been too much to ask as now, he was staring at a tall, grey-haired masked man in a headband and a green military vest. The stranger stood right in front of him and was looking at him with a slightly widened lone grey eye.

For a moment Agent Fowler was totally baffled. He stared at the bizarre character, heavy silence descending to the room. Then –

"PRIME!" Special Agent Fowler shouted again on the top of his lungs. "Who the _hell _is this?!"

The blue-red Autobot leader slightly bowed his head, answering:

"Good morning, Agent Fowler."

Fowler's patience was running thin. "Prime, how come whenever I come here to just check the situation or so I found even more people loitering around here?" Fowler's voice was more than a little annoyed. "This base is supposed to be a military secret! _You_ are supposed to be a military secret!"

"I am sorry, Agent Fowler, but this was not something we could have stopped from happening." Prime stated calmly. Fowler huffed in annoyance and tried to calm down a little. _This can't be happening_. The silver-haired stranger just seemed to observe him with a sharp look.

"Prime," Fowler said, little more collected, "who is this man?"

"Agent Fowler, this is Kakashi Hatake, unfortunately he doesn't speak any English," Optimus Prime introduced. The Autobot leader then switched language to what sounded like Japanese and apparently introduced him to the masked man. The grey-haired man said something and bowed.

Agent Fowler blinked, a little surprised, and nodded curtly in return. He scanned the man in front of him, noting he was wearing sandals and had a leaf-like symbol carved to the metal part of his headband.

Fowler felt the headache of the year coming.

"Why on _Earth _is this Kakashi Hatake here?" Fowler narrowed his eyes at the man who also looked alarmingly like a soldier if the vest, mask, and the holster strapped to his leg were anything to go by.

"He and his companion were attacked by the Decepticons," Prime explained.

"There is _another one_?!" The headache of the year swiftly turned into a headache of the decade.

"That is correct," Prime admitted. "There is also a young man named Naruto Uzumaki. He is currently with Bumblebee."

Agent Fowler closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"Could somebody _please_ explain why there are to foreigners in the secret American military base in the middle of Nevada, USA?"

Optimus Prime exchanged some words with this Kakashi Hatake person (how old was that guy? And why on Earth would someone dress like that?). In the end of the discussion the masked man seemed to be a tad cautious but nodded nonetheless, agreeing o whatever Prime was saying.

"Agent Fowler," Optimus turned back to him. "I'm afraid I had to ask you not to forward the information we are about to tell you."

Fowler narrowed his eyes.

"Right now I'm hiding quite a lot of things from my bosses already, and I really hoped I wouldn't have to add anything to that list anymore."

"I am sorry, Agent Fowler, but it would be the best if as few people as possible knew about this matter." Prime's tone was apologetic.

Fowler rubbed his temples. Then he sighed.

"Fine."

After some fifteen minutes of explaining, incredulous exclamations and unbelievable stories, Special Agent William Fowler was leaving the base, ascending with the elevator to the top of the base. He was sure his headache had just turned into the worst headache of the century. How was it that nothing, nothing was simple when the Autobots were involved? Wandering civilian kids and their mothers were something he could deal with. Hell, even greedy alien warlords and their crazy attempts to conquer Earth were something he could handle. But _strangers calling themselves ninjas from another freaking dimension_ were just too much.

That was it. He was going to drown _all the coffee_ he had when he got home, scratch office duty.

* * *

Naruto was sure of one thing: everyone back home was going to be _so jealous_.

He had lost all the sense of time while sitting there, listening to the teenagers tell him about this weird place he had woken into.

After hearing some information about the place he currently was in, Naruto had tried to describe the Five Great Countries to the others and see if they recognized them. However, it had turned out that none of them had heard about countries or geography like that before. They had made the decision to ask the Autobots about that later, and then Miko had continued her enthusiastic rant about the weird place he and Kakashi-sensei had gotten into.

First the girl had done all the talking, while the other two boys had remained quiet, once in a while demanding for translation when Miko had forgotten to do so. But after a while Jack and Rafael had begun to interrupt their friend more often, evidently insisting her to translate whatever they wanted to say to him. So now Naruto had heard what felt like everything about many countries and places (like this "USA", a country he apparently was currently in, and that "Japan" and many other places of which names he had already forgotten), weird-sounding customs and matters and of course, the Autobots.

Miko had told about how she and the boys had first got acquainted with the robots, translating Jack's and Rafael's parts of the story. That had sounded so cool, Naruto had to admit. It still felt unbelievable to him that the other children were so close to the robots, and Naruto noticed that he was just a little jealous.

When Miko had finished her story about the Autobots and their enemies Naruto had frowned a little, contemplating the new information.

"So those Dec… Dec…"

"Decepticons."

"Right, that was the word! Uh, so they were the ones that tried to beat us up?"

"Yeah, the Decepticon who attacked you was Knock Out, that's what 'Bee said," Rafael had said, translated once again by Miko. "He isn't the leader, though, that's Megatron. And he's much more evil."

"Megatron, huh?" So that was the guy behind the attack! When Naruto would get his chakra reserves back to normal, he was _so_ going to flatten that jerk! With a little help from Kakashi-sensei, naturally.

Then the three teenagers had started to throw all sorts of questions at him, like "Do you have, like, ninja schools then?" and "Have you any other cool weapons with you?" and "Do you ninjas have movies too?"

All that had resulted in a cheerful chatter as Naruto answered the question flood as best as he could and made some inquiries of his own. When the excited (and rather loud) conversation had finally come to its end Naruto had learned, among other things, that he really had to try those "ham-bur-gers" (whatever they were) and "Coca-cola", which apparently was some kind of a popular drink.

Now they were walking down the corridors with Bumblebee who, according to Rafael, had asked them to follow him to meet the others. Naruto wondered what Kakashi-sensei had been doing all this time. Maybe he and the other Autobots had managed to figure out a way home! Not that Naruto wanted to leave just yet, no, first he had to see more about this place (he really hadn't seen much yet, only desert and the base, though the latter was quite interesting), but he also wanted to know if Sakura-chan was alright. Kakashi-sensei had assured so but he still had to be sure…

What was happening in Konoha right now? Had Sakura and Sai made it back to the village and informed the Hokage? Were they trying to find them now? Did they think he and Kakashi-sensei were dead?

That thought crossed his mind every now and then. He knew he would have been really anxious if one of his teammates and his teacher had suddenly disappeared without a trace. Naruto frowned. He didn't want his friends to think he was dead. He wanted them to know he was alive and safe, although quite far from home.

"You okay, Naruto?"

Miko's voice woke him up from his musings.

"Oh, I'm fine," the blond boy replied, turning his azure gaze at the girl. "Just thinking about my friends back home."

"Oh. Are your friends ninjas too?" Miko's voice always seemed to catch that enthusiastic tone when the word "ninja" was mentioned.

"Yup! I have great friends and two teammates! Sakura-chan's very nice; I was in the same class with her in the Academy! And then there's also Sai, but he's a little creepy and weird. We are a three-man team and Kakashi-sensei's our instructor. " He deliberately left out all the mentions of Sasuke. The Uchiha was someone he didn't want to talk about yet.

Miko translated quickly his words for the boys, and the teenagers seemed to be really interested.

"So you got a team?"Miko forwarded Jack's question.

"Well, when you graduate you are sorted into teams and you got an elite shinobi as a teacher," Naruto chattered. "Then you gotta do very boring missions first, like catching cats and doing gardening and stupid things like that, before you can have real missions! Like once when we had to protect this bridge builder and…"

Naruto suddenly realized he was probably talking way too much. Kakashi-sensei was going to be so mad at him if he blabbered about something he was supposed to keep quiet about. But the others seemed more than curious and he was sure Miko was going to hurry him to go on. Fortunately they arrived to the room with the portal thing just before Miko could demand him to continue and the attention shifted from him to Kakashi-sensei and the Autobots.

Naruto almost sighed in relief. He would have to be more careful in the future, no matter how much he wanted to tell Jack, Rafael and Miko _everything_ about Konoha.

* * *

As the morning drifted by, Kakashi found himself cursing his sensitive hearing to the lowest hell possible.

If he had thought that Naruto or Miko alone could be loud, it was nothing, _nothing_ compared to the ruckus the two kids could make when together in the same room.

While cheering for a game played with a huge _ball of scrap metal_.

By two _giant robots_.

He was sure his ears were going to ring for _weeks_ afterwards.

Beside him, in front of the green displays, Ratchet let out a resigned sigh.

"They are making even more noise than before! Is that even possible?" The medic muttered under his breath. "How am I supposed to get any work done here?"

Kakashi chuckled, watching his blond student practically bounce up and down from excitement, cheering for Bumblebee as the yellow Autobot did a quite impressive move when trying to get past Bulkhead.

"Naruto can be loud when he wants to… which is all the time."

"I don't pretend I'm an expert in human behavior but aren't ninjas supposed to be _silent_?"

Kakashi actually laughed aloud, slightly shaking his head.

"You have no idea how many times I've wondered the same thing…"

Ratchet huffed in indignation, turning back to whatever work he was doing. Kakashi was leaning on the railing beside the displays, watching the game and the kids cheering for the two robots from afar. The teenagers had emerged from the tunnels with Bumblebee shortly after Agent Fowler had left and after a quick exchange of words (they hadn't talked the kids about their dimension-theory yet, he had decided to tell Naruto in the evening) Miko and Bulkhead had been in no time explaining the currently played game to Naruto. The blond boy had obviously been more than excited about it, and now the children were all following the game. Prime and Arcee had disappeared to the corridors while Smokescreen had gone scouting outside.

Kakashi mentally sighed. His headache had been reduced from pounding pain to a dull ache in the back of his head. As a shinobi he was well accustomed to pain and something as trivial as a headache was something he could easy handle. He was still relieved when it didn't anymore feel like something was hammering his head from the inside. Naruto on the other hand looked like he was doing just fine and the jounin was glad his student was recovering well.

Agent Fowler's interruption had been quite unexpected but fortunate. Kakashi wasn't yet sure what he thought about the man he had just met. This William Fowler had had a quite commanding aura and something in him had reminded Kakashi of a soldier, though the man hadn't really looked like an active warrior. An ex-soldier maybe? And he had not looked happy at all to see him in the base. First Kakashi had been a little doubtful about letting the man know about them, but Optimus Prime had assured it was for the best.

After the discussion with the "special agent" (Kakashi wasn't sure what the title exactly meant, though he had his suspicions) the Autobots hadn't pried anymore about their arrival here. The Hatake had been truly surprised. If something similar had happened in Konoha, the stranger would be interrogated in the Torture and Interrogation Force until the Village would know all about the powers that could do such a thing as move through dimensions.

But there had not been more questions about their abilities, at least not yet. Kakashi was sure the matter hadn't been left completely alone. He could deal with that. He didn't actually want to keep the robots in the dark about this, but first of all he was a shinobi of the Leaf and could not deal information about his skills to just anyone. He would have to observe the Autobots a little more before that.

But now, it was time for some information gathering.

"So…" Kakashi began. Ratchet glanced at him. "You were talking about some incident with similar traits as ours," the Copy Nin stated, referring to the earlier conversation.

"Yes," Ratchet confirmed. "Some time ago two ground bridges, ours and the Decepticons', appeared too close to each other, creating sort of a 'shadow zone', a dimension close to ours but still different. The kids and one enemy got inside, and due to the difference in dimensions we could not see or hear them."

"So, what happened to me and Naruto was similar, only the dimensions are further away," the silver-haired man concluded.

"I strongly think so, and you were able to make it all the way through" the medic agreed.

Kakashi slowly nodded. He stared at the four kids following the game. Naruto whooped as the ball hit the basket again.

From the corner of his eye he saw Ratchet giving him a glance. Then the medic spoke again.

"You're thinking about whether you could somehow get home via ground bridges, am I right?"

The jounin just smiled his signature smile, visible eye curving.

"Well, if I were thinking about that, would it be possible or too far-fetched?"

Ratchet snorted, but seemed to smile just a little.

"I really can't say. It's not something we have really researched. But I'll look into it," the medic answered. The white-red Autobot then seemed to frown and Kakashi sensed there was going to be questions coming for him.

"I must say you took the idea quite well, Hatake-san," Ratchet started.

Kakashi raised one silver eyebrow, deciding not to say anything and let the medic speak his mind.

Ratchet gave him a steady gaze.

"You accepted the explanation of this being another dimension pretty well. Seems almost like the idea of dimensional travelling isn't that new to you."

"Really, you think so?" Kakashi drawled, returning the gaze with his own indifferent one. "That's quite an assumption, don't you think?" Mentally he cursed his own curiosity that had led to these questions.

Ratchet shook his head slightly.

"You saw Agent Fowler's reaction, and he isn't an ignorant man," the medic said. "The majority of the humans inhabiting this planet would react the same way. Dimensional bridges or ground bridges don't exist to them, probably even if they are shoved to their faces or that they are pushed through one."

Kakashi stared blankly as Bulkhead tossed the ball of scrap towards the basket and the ball hit its goal with a clunk.

"Maybe I'm just open-minded," the Copy Nin replied amusedly.

Ratchet huffed, but not like he had failed his mission to interrogate him and more like he was exasperated that his curiosity was left unsatisfied. Kakashi smiled inwardly.

The white Autobot had gone quiet, concentrating once again on his work. It seemed the medic had given up questioning him further, at least for now. Kakashi still thought he should probably start planning what he was going to tell the Autobots. Their patience wouldn't be infinite, though they had been quite trustful.

But as Kakashi watched Arcee emerge from the tunnels, blue eyes narrowing suspiciously when glancing at him, he was more than certain that all the members of the team wouldn't be so trusting.

* * *

Thank you for reading! Feedback is more than appreciated!

**AN: **And here's Chapter Four! I know, nothing really happens here as I'm just finishing the introductions, but I hope you liked it! I probably won't have time to update next week because I'll be very busy and I also need to think about the following chapters a little before writing more. So sorry for the possible wait ;)

If there are any mistakes, don't hesitate to let me know.


	5. Chapter 5

Once again, thank you so much for all the wonderful reviews, favorites and follows!

Beta'ed by Lohis, thank you! ^^

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or TF Prime

* * *

Will of Fire and Hearts of Steel

Chapter Five

"Naruto, for the last time, I am _not_ going to eat that."

"Come on, Sensei! It's really good when you try it! Believe it!"

Kakashi seriously doubted that. The _thing_ the blond boy was at the moment offering him couldn't possibly taste anything but horrible. At least it smelled absolutely terrible, even when he had his mask safely on.

Naruto waved the hamburger in front of him like it would somehow make the thing more tempting.

"But you gotta eat something, Sensei," the boy whined. "It _is_ good, really!"

Kakashi scowled at the thing he adamantly refused to call food. How could anyone consider that food? It certainly didn't look edible and it smelled like it was made purely out of fat and something he didn't even want to know more precisely. According to Miko, those things were even a rather popular food on this planet. He wondered how anyone could survive eating such things.

However, the other teenagers were happily wolfing down their own meals, hamburgers and something they called "French Fries" (well, they looked better than the hamburgers but still smelled just as bad). Kakashi was hungry, he couldn't deny that but he could still survive without food for a while, and he was currently very tempted to do just that.

Around midday the Autobots had given them a small tour of the base. Of course the robots hadn't shown them everything, and Kakashi was more than sure the corridors still held some interesting secrets, although he had known better than to pry (Naruto hadn't seem to be thinking about things like that as the blond had just been almost euphoric when they had found out there actually was a bathroom hidden in the depths of the corridors). The place apparently was something called a "missile silo" and was officially off limits. That Agent Fowler fellow, Kakashi had learned, was the link between this team of alien robots and this country's government. Kakashi really was thankful the Special Agent had agreed to keep silent about this, as he wanted to keep as low as possible during their stay in this strange place. The thought of some unknown government officials charging into the base to restrain and interrogate them wasn't in any way pleasant.

The day had continued with interesting conversations as he had listened to Miko ramble about seemingly everything that crossed her mind to Naruto, every now and then translating Jack's or Rafael's questions for the young ninja. Kakashi had also made some inquiries to Ratchet, but the medic hadn't been too enthusiastic when the jounin had continued to interrupt his work.

During the afternoon they had realized they hadn't eaten anything for a while (Naruto had declared that he was sure to starve to death) so Miko and Jack had left with Bumblebee to get some food. About an hour later they had returned with huge bags full of something called fast food: hamburgers, French fries, a bag full of drinks and something that was supposed to be chicken. The container had a strange symbol on the side and a smiling man, although Kakashi couldn't come up with any good reason why someone would do that.

He cursed his sensitive nose as he tried to get farther away from the fast food, though it was kind of challenging as he was sitting against the wall.

Naruto huffed and pretty much dumped the burger into his hands, along with a small paper bag of French fries.

"Come on Sensei, don't be a sissy. Do you want me to tell everybody back home what a picky mouth you are? "

_I just don't want to have a food poisoning_, Kakashi thought and scowled at his mischievously grinning student who went back to the other kids. He hadn't trained since he was a child just so he could ruin his body by eating trash like this. He sighed, suspiciously eyeing the food in his hand. He didn't want to even guess what had been stuffed between the two bread loaves. The jounin lifted his gaze just to notice the kids where discreetly throwing glances at him. Kakashi mentally snorted_. Well, guess they have the right to be curious_, he thought. Well, then he would just wait for the right moment. It shouldn't take too long before the teenagers' attention would be drawn away from him. They _were_ kids after all. And then he could glomp down his so-called meal without any curious gazes and have his mask back on before they would notice a thing.

In addition to him and the teens, the base was quite empty, although not remotely silent as Miko and Naruto were still present. Ratchet was still doing his work in front of the computers, and Arcee was standing beside the displays. He had no idea where the rest of the Autobots had gone to. He had tried to listen to their conversations but they had all spoken that English language again and Kakashi hadn't understood a thing. He would have to do something about that…

Naruto was already finishing his hamburger.

"Man that was good! Well not better than ramen of course but still! We should travel more often Kakashi-sensei!" The boy laughed. Kakashi mentally snorted, staring at his own meal. How he missed a good miso soup with some delicious eggplant…

Miko then shoved a big paper cup to Naruto's hands.

"Here, try this! It's Coca-Cola, you're gonna love it!"

Kakashi watched as the blond boy lifted the cup and glanced inside.

"It's black! And sparkling! I can see the bubbles!"

"Of course it is! Now try it!"

Naruto hesitantly sniffed the drink. Then he shrugged and gulped down what it seemed to be a half of the drink all at once.

There was a second of silence, then –

Naruto spat the black liquid out, coughing madly.

"Gwaah, it BURNS –"

The whole room burst out laughing.

Miko, Jack and Rafael were practically rolling on the floor, laughing so hard it seemed to be almost painful. Kakashi tried not to choke on his laughter. Even Ratchet seemed to chuckle. Arcee had an unreadable expression on her face.

Naruto coughed the rest of the drink out of his throat, glaring at the now half-empty cup in his hands. Then he grinned madly and joined the laughter.

"How could anyone like this? It's like drinking _acid_."

"Hey, it's delicious! You just have to get used to it."

Naruto laughed. "No way, I'll never touch that horrible stuff again." He turned back to Kakashi. "Hey Kakashi-sensei, wanna try – HEY!"

Kakashi blinked innocently, throwing the empty food wrappers to a nearby plastic bag and adjusted his mask back to its place. "Yes Naruto?"

"How could you eat that so fast?" Naruto eyed him suspiciously, as if suspecting he had hidden the food somewhere.

Kakashi smiled at him, the visible eye curving happily. He was well accustomed to eating quickly as there was always someone trying to catch a glimpse of his face. The food had been horrible (he prayed he wouldn't have to eat anything like that ever again) and the speed he had wolfed it down didn't make him feel too good. But at least he had gotten some food down (if you could call it that) and his face still remained as a mystery to the children. Mission completed.

"It's a secret ninja skill, Naruto," the Copy Nin drawled in an amused tone, chuckling when the boy huffed in indignation as another one of his attempts to get a glance of his teacher's face had failed.

Kakashi's gaze then moved to the girl as a thought occurred to him.

"Miko? May I ask you for a favor?"

Miko looked positively surprised about his words. Then her face brightened.

"Sure!" she exclaimed, grinning widely.

Kakashi's eye formed a happy arch. "Could you somehow get us some language books? It would be quite nice to learn some of that English you're speaking."

"Of course!" Miko yelled. "I'll bring them tomorrow! It's really easy to learn when you get the hang of it, really!" Kakashi was sure he heard Arcee snort at that.

"Uhhh, but I'm no good at things like that!" Naruto complained.

"Don't worry! We'll teach you!" Miko declared. "You'll learn it in no time!" Then the girl's attention shifted back to the jounin.

"Hey! You! Can I ask you something?" Miko was practically yelling her question, waving a half empty bag of French Fries in Kakashi's direction and looking at him, brown eyes gleaming. Kakashi couldn't but blink at the girl's straightforwardness.

"Uh, sure," the jounin answered, scratching the back of his head. He was rather sure he already knew the questions the girl would throw at him. And as expected:

"What's under that mask?"

"Another mask."

"Well, what's under _that_?"

"My face."

"Why do you use it in the first place?"

"To look mysterious."

"_Really_?!"

"No."

"Well what about that headband? What's under _that_?"

"It's a secret."

"Aw, come on! " Miko looked like she thought he would have been obliged to reveal his secrets by now. Rafael and Jack looked at them and then at each other, clearly having no idea of what was going on, although they didn't seem to be surprised of their friend's behavior.

The girl's expression brightened again, "Well, can you show us some awesome ninja moves then? Do you know taekwondo? Or karate? Or can you –"

"I know, I know!" Naruto hollered, waving his arms and interrupting Miko's question flood. "We could have a sparring match, right Kakashi-sensei?"

"That would be so cool!" Miko yelled just as enthusiastically. Kakashi didn't know if it was possible for a robot but he was sure he had seen Arcee roll her eyes at the girl's antics. Rafael and Jack seemed to finally have enough of the language they couldn't understand and tried to get Miko to translate the talk.

The Copy Nin mentally sighed. There would be no changing their minds now.

* * *

Arcee didn't like this.

When Miko, Rafael and Jack had first arrived to the base, she hadn't like that either; although she now admitted she was quite fond of the teenagers. But this was different. These people, their _interdimensional_ quests, weren't just children in danger of getting stomped over by the Decepticons. These were trained soldiers. These guys could throw a shuriken quicker than a human eye could see and with enough force to get it impeded to the wall of the base.

Not that such thing as a throwing star could do serious damage to the 'Bots. But Arcee didn't believe that throwing a shuriken would be the only skill the strangers had.

And that led her thoughts to the most serious problem. Arcee was more than sure Hatake Kakashi knew a lot more than he had so far revealed about what Ratchet had called a "dimensional bridge". She had seen it in that lone eye of his; the ninja had quite an impressive indifferent gaze hiding his emotions and thoughts but Arcee knew Hatake had told them practically nothing about what being a ninja in their world _actually _meant.

The blue 'Bot didn't like at all that there were two strangers with unknown powers that could possibly transfer themselves to other dimensions hanging around in the base. It was true they hadn't actually _done _anything suspicious yet (if you didn't count the fact the other wore a _mask _all the time), but that didn't mean they wouldn't in the future.

Optimus Prime had given them time to adjust. Their leader seemed to be sure the two ninjas would share more information once they trusted the Autobots little more. Arcee mentally frowned. She trusted Prime with all her spark but she still couldn't help but be suspicious about the strangers. She couldn't help but think _what if_.

The said ninjas were currently walking behind her as she led them to their quite humble accommodation. Their guests though didn't seem to mind the uncomfortable premises at all. Guess they had seen worse. She listened as the blond boy rambled to the older man about the day, how cool the basketball had been and how horrible the Cola had been and how amazing it had been when Bumblebee had once again transformed to his vehicle form. The masked man listened quietly, sometimes nodding to the boy's words and every now and then managing to say something between the youth's rants.

Arcee halted in front of the door, turning around to face the ninjas.

"Man I'm tired, and it isn't really evening yet!" Naruto practically shouted, his voice echoing through the corridors. Arcee sighed. Were all Japanese speaking kids this loud?

Hatake also looked quite exhausted. The masked man had dark circle under his eye and he looked just a little too pale to be diagnosed healthy. Whatever they had done or gone through to get here seemed to have taken a lot out of them.

"I take it you're going to stand guard," Hatake said when the blond had disappeared into the room.

Arcee nodded curtly, narrowing her optics.

"I'll stay here for now. And there will be someone at guard all the time so there's no point in trying anything funny."

The masked man raised one silver eyebrow.

"Worried we'll sneak out during the night?" There was a hint of amusement in his tone.

Arcee scoffed and leaned forwards so that she was pretty much looming over the man who, however, didn't look too intimidated.

"Listen, Prime might trust you for now, but that doesn't mean_ I_ wouldn't think that you're a serious security risk." She narrowed her blue eyes further, if it even was possible. "I think there's awfully lot that you failed to mention about yourselves earlier and I don't like that."

Hatake Kakashi met her challenging gaze with a totally indifferent one. The silver-haired man looked downright bored, which annoyed Arcee to no end.

"Well, it's not like you have revealed everything about yourselves either," he responded with a blank tone. "Isn't that quite an obvious way to act in a situation like this?"

"But we happen to be in _our_ base," the blue 'Bot retaliated with an almost-angry tone. "_We_ are the ones who have to risk our sanctuary for strangers – _soldiers_ nonetheless – with totally unknown skills. Skills that could possibly mess with dimensions as well and Primus knows what!"

"Well it isn't like our situation here is ideal either," the ninja shot back.

"What are you implying?"

Hatake crossed his arms and leaned against the wall beside the door.

"I come from a town full of soldiers. We are the ones keeping our country safe, with whatever means necessary." He gave Arcee a steady gaze. "Though we're currently not at war we still have lots of enemies, some of them with quite atrocious goals."

The man tilted his head slightly, the lone dark eye narrowing. "But that doesn't somehow make us the good guys of the universe. So although there seems to be some nasty people wanting to catch us here that doesn't mean we should blindly trust _you_."

"So you're saying that even though we saved you, offered you a shelter and gave you information of your location when you had none, we still might murder you in your sleep?" Arcee's voice had a sharp edge in it.

"I'm saying that you can never know, and we'd be fools to ignore that," the silver-haired man's tone was just as acid.

The corridor became silent, as the Autobot and the ninja stared at each other with tension practically crackling between them. Then the silver-haired man suddenly smiled (or at least she thought he did), the visible eye curving slightly.

"Well, it was nice talking to you, Arcee-san. See you, then." And then he was gone, the door shutting behind him, leaving the blue Autobot alone in the gloomy corridor.

No, she didn't like this at all.

* * *

Naruto huffed as he stepped to the room, leaving Kakashi-sensei to the corridor with Arcee. Whoa, he was beginning to remember the robots' names already! He was quite proud of himself as his memory didn't always work that well.

The day had been quite crazy, to say the least. He was dying to know more about… about… damn! What was the name of this country again? Well, anyway, he was more than looking forward to hearing more about _everything_. Maybe he and Kakashi-sensei would get outside soon too! And see more than just dusty dark deserts. Maybe they would meet other people! Or see some cities! Now _that_ would be great.

Naruto was already sitting on one of the empty steel tables when his teacher finally strolled inside.

"What took you so long, Sensei?"

Kakashi-sensei's eye formed a cheerful crescent.

"I was just exchanging a few words with one of our hosts."

Naruto rolled his eyes. Then he remembered what he had had to ask his sensei.

"Hey, Kakashi-sensei, did figure anything out yet? About why we're here, I mean." And how they could get home, but that was clear for both even when left unsaid.

The jounin didn't answer right away, walking to stand beside the wall and sitting down to lean against it. He rubbed his masked cheek and answered:

"Well, we managed to figure some things out already."

Naruto leaned forwards, giving his sensei an expectant look. The Hatake seemed to contemplate something for a moment before speaking.

"Remember when I mentioned the new technique I had developed during your training with Jiraya-sama, Naruto?"

The boy grinned. "After we had beaten you in that bell test? Sure!" Ha, that had been awesome! He and Sakura had schemed together and had finally managed to snatch those bells. The look on their teacher's face had been priceless. And judging by Kakashi-sensei's current expression he hadn't forgotten that either. Okay, the threat of Icha Icha spoilers had been a low blow, but in war, everything was allowed.

"Yes, " his teacher responded curtly but with an amused glint in his grey eye. "The one I used against Deidara. Remember what it did?"

"Um..."

Kakashi-sensei rolled his eye.

"It's a Mangekyou Sharingan technique, an advanced form of Sharingan. It's called the Kamui, and it can teleport the targeted object to another dimension. "

Naruto mouthed a silent "whoa", remembering the fight with the Akatsuki member.

"The point is, I used the very same jutsu, the Kamui, as a last resort to get rid of the ball of energy following me when we were fighting against those missing-nins."

Naruto nodded slowly, eyes squinting slightly. That would mean…

"So this is then... Another dimension?"

"Seems like it."

Naruto scratched the back of his head, baffled.

"Is this like, the Kamui dimension then?"

The jounin shook his head. "No, the Kamui isn't _that_ powerful of a jutsu. It wouldn't have had enough power to send us all the way here. " His teacher sighed and leaned his head against the gray wall. "I didn't see the seals of that unfamiliar jutsu but I think it would have been something quite nasty. Apparently the collision gave the Kamui some boost and drained our chakra in the process, and we ended up here."

"Whoa," was all Naruto could say. Kakashi-sensei chuckled. They both were quiet for a moment, contemplating their rapidly growing problem.

"Well, guess we're not going home anytime soon, right?" Naruto voiced the thoughts that were probably in Kakashi-sensei's mind as well. The Hatake nodded absentmindedly, running a gloved hand through his silver hair.

"Ratchet promised to do some research about the matter, but for now, we really can't return."

The silence descended to the room. After a moment, Naruto sighed and rubbed his face. Man, he was exhausted! And it wasn't even that late yet! Chakra exhaustion truly was a drag. All he wanted to do was sleep. The day had been so full of everything that he had, for a moment, forgotten how jaded he'd been. And now, when there were no robots around or he wasn't chatting with Miko, Raf and Jack, the weariness was returning with vengeance. Naruto tried to stifle a yawn. The blond wondered if the Kyuubi's chakra was drained too. He suddenly frowned a little.

"Sensei, do you think the Kyuubi's chakra is gone too? I mean, it does have so much chakra… You think it could have been the reason why for us to end up all the way here if the portal needed so much energy?"

Kakashi-sensei looked at him with pride glinting in his eye.

"I strongly think we wouldn't have survived the trip without the demon's chakra," he said in a slightly amused tone. "Or at least we wouldn't have made it all the way here and got stuck in somewhere in between."

Naruto huffed. "So the Nine-Tails saved our asses. Great."

The Copy Nin snickered.

"So," the younger shinobi continued, " there's no way we can, like, send a message home?"

"I find that unlikely, though I have something in mind that I'd like to try, but only when my chakra has returned a little."

Naruto nodded slowly. "I'd just want to make sure everyone's okay. And let Iruka-sensei now I'm fine. He worries so easily…" he trailed off while talking about the person who was practically his big brother. He didn't want him to worry for nothing.

"So what are we going to do now then, Sensei?"

"Well," Kakashi-sensei shifted a little, taking a better posture, "for now, I think we should continue gathering as much information as possible, as in this situation, knowledge is power. And let's keep our eyes open. According to Prime, and I don't think he's lying, those Decepticon fellows probably won't be leaving us alone."

Naruto suddenly grinned, jumping off of the table.

"Ha! They can try and catch us! But when we get our strength back, they'll hope they _had_ left us alone then!"

Kakashi-sensei chuckled, standing up. "Sure they will. But now let's get some sleep or we'll never get any chakra back."

"Sure! And no more sleeping on the floor!" Naruto cheered as they went to unpack the bags the teenagers had brought in the morning.

* * *

The commanding bridge of the _Nemesis_ was silent. Finally.

Soundwave was standing in front of the computers, dark visor reflecting the dull lights of the displays. Knock Out had just recently left, and during the medic's presence the Communications Chief had been forced to listen the red mech's complaints about how _tedious_ it had been to fix the scratch on his face the puny human had caused and threats how the medic would rip him apart limb by limb when he would get his hands on the stranger. The Doctor had not been even slightly slowed down by the fact that Soundwave had pretty much ignored most of what he had said – though he had recorded it for possible later use.

But despite annoying medics, the grey-and-blue 'Con had been able to concentrate on his work. This was finding out as much as possible about the troublesome strangers and that portal energy.

The weapons had been an interesting discovery. Mainly because after doing some research about human melee weaponry, the Chief of Communications had quickly found out that a kunai –which was what the knives were called, without a doubt– was a weapon that hadn't been used on Earth in a long long time. And a fascinating fact was that the daggers definitely weren't hundreds of years old. They were rather recently made (for such a primitive weapons) and very recently used. There was no way these knives were some old artifacts. And above all, they were weapons often associated with special assassins and soldiers called "ninjas" who had operated in a certain country on this planet some hundreds of years ago.

Of course that itself didn't mean anything. Any lousy human on the face of the Earth could have made replicas of a kunais and throw them around. That probably would have been the most likely case if Soundwave hadn't found out something even more intriguing.

That ground bridge-like energy. Or more accurately, the dimensional portal.

It had taken some time for the Communications Chief to reveal the secrets of that energy. It was similar to one of a ground bridge but there were some _slight_ differences. Like the sheer amount of energy, for the start, was quite amazing. The dark-colored mech doubted the Decepticons had even a fraction or so of the amount of Energon needed to open let alone to maintain such a portal.

Had it been some kind of a random occurrence? Soundwave didn't think that was likely. Then had it been opened by the strangers? Although according to Knock Out's description of the two humans they hadn't come across as that powerful, using just ineffective melee weapons. However, that didn't mean they couldn't have done it, as such a power was doubtlessly taxing.

And then there was the question of from where the portal had been opened. With a power that great Soundwave didn't for a moment doubt it couldn't reach even farther than a fully operating space bridge. Very much farther.

He had gotten even more clues about the situation when he had remembered the incident not so long ago when the human kids and Starscream's Dark Energon-powered Skyquake had accidentally entered the other dimension caused by the two too closely situated ground bridges.

Dimensional portal. Huge amount of energy. And a couple of weapons that hadn't been used actively on Earth for hundreds of years. Adding all those to the equation the Communications Chief had formed a quite fascinating theory. Theory, which with no doubt, was correct.

Yes, Lord Megatron would certainly be more than interested.

* * *

Thanks for reading! Feedback and reviews will make my day! ^^

**AN:** Hello again, and here's chapter five! Yes, I know, there still isn't much action but it's still their first day and our ninjas have to get their chakra back first. So don't worry, there will be some action in the near future, just be patient. And because I'll have some important exams in a few weeks I probably won't have time to update for a few weeks. So sorry for the possible wait.


	6. Chapter 6

Once again, thank you so much for all the wonderful feedback! ^^

Beta'ed by Lohis, thank you!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or TF Prime.

* * *

Will of Fire and Hearts of Steel

Chapter 6

Naruto was trying very hard not to laugh.

However, his task was getting harder and harder to accomplish. The blond desperately tried to stifle his laughter, hand not-so-discreetly over his mouth.

_No, I can't fail now… He'll _kill_ me if I do. You're a ninja! You can do this!_

Then he threw one short glance at the person standing in front of him and totally lost it. Uzumaki Naruto burst out laughing so loud the whole base must have heard him. And probably the next base too, if there was any other secret military bases with aliens hiding nearby.

In front of him Kakashi-sensei shot him the fiercest deathglare he could (it probably would have caused some enemies to flee if they had been in a battle), but that only made Naruto laugh even harder.

"What, pray tell," his sensei's silky voice was a clear sign that he was about to strangle his student, who was practically rolling on the floor laughing, "are you finding _so _funny, Naruto?"

Naruto gasped for breath and tried to get a hold of himself, failing miserably and starting to giggle manically.

His teacher's eye narrowed dangerously but it really didn't have the desired effect, not when he was dressed like _that._

Oh, Naruto wasn't going to let his sensei live this down. _Ever._

That day the two ninjas had slept considerably later than the day before as they knew there would be no more enlightening conversations awaiting them this time. Naruto had been asleep till late morning, happily snoring in the sleeping bag Miko and Co. had brought for them. His teacher had been already up when he woke up, sitting cross-legged on his makeshift bed and reading that stupid book of his.

That white Autobot, Smokescreen if he remembered the name correctly, had visited them around midday, informing them that the kids had school today ("They _still _have to go to school?!") and wouldn't be around before about three in the afternoon. The robot had also brought them lunch, unfortunately not ham-bur-gers, though Kakashi-sensei hadn't seemed to be even a bit disappointed with the lack of fast food.

After lunch they had encountered a new problem: clothes. It was really no problem to wear the same uniform during a mission as they would get dirty anyway just like all the other members' in the team. But when being actually inside, in the presence of other people, the worn uniforms quite quickly became uncomfortable for everyone.

Fortunately the kids had already foreseen that: there had been a bunch of spare clothes for the ninjas to wear in the bags brought the previous morning. Apparently the three teenagers had collected old clothes from home for the good cause.

Naturally Kakashi-sensei, the Great Copy Ninja of the Sharingan Eye had also had to change his appearance. And that was the reason why Naruto was currently in grave danger to choke on his own laughter.

The jounin was wearing faded blue jeans that were somehow little too short and little too wide, held up by a simple belt. The white t-shirt was a few sizes too big for him and had some letters on it, with a red heart in the middle. According to Miko, it meant "I love New York" (Naruto couldn't remember what "New York" was. He would have to remember to ask that sometime).

Naruto had always thought his teacher looked quite young, even under the baggy ninja garments and despite his silver hair. Now, with the civilian clothes a little too big, the jounin sensei looked like a grey-haired teenager in a mask.

Naruto, on the other hand, had jeans with trouser legs only slightly rolled up and a simple t-shirt (unfortunately not orange but dark green) that Kakashi had called "normal clothes".

"I-I wish so much I had a camera right now…" Naruto gasped, trying to stop another fit of laughter from escaping.

The jounin glared at him with all his might, his left eye tightly shut as he wore no headband yet.

"Come on Naruto," his teacher's voice was just a little desperate, the fierce attitude changing into almost a miserable one. "It can't be_ that_ bad."

"The-the _shirt_ has a _heart_ on it! A _red heart!_" If only his teammates could see this too…

Naruto practically collapsed to the floor, howling with laughter.

Kakashi-sensei tried to scoff indignantly, glaring at his student venomously. Naruto just laughed louder.

"When we get back to Konoha, I'm going to make you run laps around the Village until your legs give out." The Copy Nin threatened. "And then you get to run them _again_."

"W-would be worth it..."

Kakashi-sensei sighed in exasperation and gave his student a pointed glare.

"Come on now, brat. We have actually some work to do this morning."

Naruto made a great effort to calm down and got up from the floor, stifling the last giggles.

Kakashi-sensei rolled his eye.

Naruto, still smiling his foxy smile, crossed his hands behind his head and asked:

"Sure, sensei. So what are we gonna do?"

* * *

Kakashi strode to his jounin vest, which had been discarded with other clothes beside the wall. Beside it on the floor were his pouch and the weapon holster. He quickly snatched a kunai from the holster and then returned to Naruto who was waiting eagerly for him in the middle of the room.

"Have you found out a way to get a contact to home, Sensei?" The boy asked excitedly, practically bouncing up and down.

Kakashi shrugged.

"Not sure, but I think this will be worth a try, " he said, swinging the kunai around in his hand.

"You're gonna summon your nindogs?" Naruto's face lit up after a moment of confusion. Then he frowned a little, squinting his eyes suspiciously. "You sure you got enough chakra for that already, Sensei? It would be a total drag if you passed out again or something."

Kakashi raised one silver eyebrow. "Of course I have enough chakra, Naruto; otherwise I wouldn't be trying this, " the jounin lied smoothly. When he said he had recovered enough for this stunt he actually meant "I will probably be still alive and maybe even conscious after trying this".

If Sakura had been there with them she would probably have smelled her teacher's lies and batted him in the head for being so irresponsible. But in life, some risks would just have to be taken.

Naruto, however, believed him blindly.

"Well, Sensei, what are you waiting for then? I can't wait to see Pakkun again! Though he is quite grumpy… But don't tell him I said that!"

Kakashi cut the tip of his finger with the kunai. Then he went through the familiar handsigns and slammed his hand to the ground.

_Kuchiyose no jutsu!_

Nothing happened.

Naruto stared at his teacher for a moment before exclaiming:

"Where's Pakkun?"

The blond boy looked around in the room as if the nindog could suddenly jump behind the tables or stroll through the door.

Kakashi frowned.

Why the hell didn't it work? He was sure he had enough chakra now…

The jounin's hands flew through the seals again, repeating the technique.

Still, the room remained dog-free.

Kakashi ran a hand through his hair – the one that didn't have the cut on it – and stared the place at the floor where his summon should have appeared.

"Maybe… Maybe jutsus don't work in this place," Naruto said, his voice revealing his discomfort at the horrifying thought.

Kakashi quickly did the seals for a simple bunshin. The copy puffed into existence right next to him.

"No, that's not it," the jounin said, still frowning and dispelled the bunshin.

"Maybe you just didn't have the chakra – "

"I _had_ the chakra," the jounin interrupted. "I've done it before like this, and it has always worked. That's not it."

They both stayed silent for a while.

Kakashi didn't like this at all.

He had always – always – been able to summon his pack. They had helped him out from many tough situations. His summons were something he could always trust to if he just had the chakra to call them to him. They had always been there for him.

He suddenly felt very alone.

"Maybe we are just too far away," Naruto said in a conversational tone.

"Hm?"

"You know, " the blond shrugged. "The dimension stuff. Maybe summoning techniques don't reach all the way there. I mean, it took quite a lot of chakra to get us here too…" Naruto quieted down, scratching the back of his head.

Kakashi was silent for a moment.

_Not bad, Naruto._ "That could be highly likely. _We_ still have chakra, so despite the dimension, we can still use it. But home is just too far away to easily get a contact to."

Naruto nodded happily. Then he narrowed his sky-blue eyes accusingly. "You were _surprised_!"

The jounin's eyebrows rose. "What –"

"You didn't think I'd figure out something like that!"

Kakashi couldn't help but laugh.

"I'm just getting back at you for laughing at my clothes."

Naruto huffed in indignation, but soon grinned again. "Well, your clothes just _are_ so –"

"Yes I know, " Kakashi interrupted exasperatedly. "No need to rub that in my face any more. Why don't you instead go and see if your friends are back from school already?"

Naruto smirked at him, but started towards the door. "Sure, Sensei. See you later then!" And the boy strolled out of the room. Kakashi could hear him talking to their current guard outside before the muffled echo of footsteps disappeared.

For a moment the jounin just stood there, contemplating their newest discoveries about the situation. No help from the summons then. They would just have to live with that then.

The Copy Nin snatched the pouch from beside the wall and tied it to his belt. Then he picked up his hitai-ate from top of the pile of discarded clothes. He went to the steel tables on the other side of the room and gently lowered the headband onto it, metal plate upwards.

He took a step back and stuffed his hands (now without gloves, he felt kind of weird without them) in his pockets. For a while he just stared at the headband, the little dents and scratches on its silvery surface, the smoothly carved leaf symbol in the center. Silent seconds ticked by.

"Well, Obito," Kakashi started in a quiet tone that couldn't be heard outside the room, "it's been a while."

He ran a hand through his hair.

"Sorry I haven't been able to visit you, Rin and Sensei for a while, but you see…" His unscarred eye formed a happy crescent. "There's been some… unpredictable (to say the very _very_ least) happenings lately."

The elite shinobi opened his eye and gazed at the hitai-ate. "So no morning trips to the Memorial, then. This is the closest I can get.

"You would have liked it here. Well, maybe not at this stuffy base. But I'm sure you would have wanted to meet them. All the new people… and the Autobots of course. I never thought I'd be this far from home some day." The silver-haired man chuckled to himself.

"And I know you're probably laughing at my stupid clothes right now… I mean someone has actually _bought _these ridiculous things. But guess it could be a lot worse, right. At least I had a spare mask with me…"

He sighed a little. "But I should get going now, or they'll start to wonder why I'm staying behind. Arcee will get suspicious again."

The Copy Nin stepped to the table and took the headband into his hand, running his thumb over the symbol carved onto the metal plate. Then he tied it to its place, tugging the other side down so it was once again hiding the scarred eyelid.

"Sorry for not being able to stay longer today. I'll be back again when I can."

Then he left the room.

* * *

The roar of engine was like a prelude for the certainly upcoming racket. A large green truck raced from the tunnel, tires screeching as the vehicle braked, stopping neatly in the middle of the room. Three teenagers jumped out and Bulkhead swiftly transformed back to his robot form.

"Schooool's over!" Miko cheered, punching the air.

"And miraculously, _someone_ didn't even get detention." Jack said, a smile tugging his lips.

"Hey! I don't get detention _that_ often! Only when teachers are being overly boring."

"And when are they not, according to you?"

"I said _overly_ boring, not just usual-boring!"

The good-natured bickering continued. Rafael spotted Bumblebee on the edge of the room and ran to the yellow 'Bot.

"Hey 'Bee! How about a race?"

The scout chirped happily and nodded eagerly, and the two started towards the television.

And so the kids were back at the base, and the volume levels had magically shot up to the clouds. Ratchet suppressed the urge to slam his head to the screens. The heavenly moments of silence were once again history.

Well, at least he had gotten quite a lot of work done.

"Hey Ratch," Bulkhead greeted, walking to stand beside the white medic.

Ratchet hmm'ed in response, slightly narrowing his optics while gazing at the displays.

"Any progress?"

The white mech sighed.

"Well, some, I think. Though I don't think it will be any good news for our guests."

"Oh. What is it?"

"Heeeeey, where's Naruto?" Miko shouted, leaning to the railings of the upper level of the room. "They haven't left anywhere, have they? Not without us!"

"Of course not!" Ratchet replied exasperatedly. "They're at their room. Smokescreen told them when you'd be returning so I think they'll be here soon."

Miko cheered again, running back to her friends at the couch.

"The kids sure are excited, huh?" Bulkhead laughed.

"You don't say," Ratchet muttered to himself.

As if having heard the conversation, Naruto appeared in to the room, dressed in jeans and t-shirt instead of his usual outfit. His face lit up when he saw that the teenagers were present too.

"Hi!" Miko yelled in Japanese, waving from the upper level. "Come here! You gotta try this game 'Bee and Raf are playing!"

The blonde ninja ran to them in a heartbeat, and soon the room was filled with cheerful chatter and incredulous "_no way!_"s as the teens showed the game to Naruto.

"Where are the others?" Bulkhead asked from the medic.

"Smokescreen is probably waiting for Hatake. Optimus and Arcee went to check the relics not so long ago."

It wasn't long until the other ninja pretty much stalked to the room, amused Smokescreen on his heels.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto hollered from the couches. "You have to try this game thing! It's a _car race_!"

"Maybe later, Naruto," the grey-haired man replied. He then trotted to Ratchet and Bulkhead, hands in his pockets and greeted them with a laid back "Afternoon". Smokescreen waved his hand, halting beside Bulkhead.

The ninja looked kind of funny, Ratchet had to admit, wearing the t-shirt and shabby jeans with his mask and headband still firmly in place. And somehow the otherwise indifferent expression in his uncovered eye clearly told not to make any comments about his current clothing.

An expression Bulkhead apparently failed to notice.

"Uh, what happened to your clothes?" The green mech asked in a slightly confused tone. Ratchet stifled the urge to facepalm. Smokescreen snickered.

There was a quick flash of annoyed mortification in the man's dark eye.

"Kinda had to change them," he answered curtly. Ratchet hid a smile.

"I assume you're going to ask if there have been any improvements," the medic swiftly changed the topic.

Kakashi nodded, seemingly ever-so-slightly relieved that the attention had shifted from his "I love NY" shirt to other issues. "Have there been any?" The ninja inquired. Though his tone wasn't actually hopeful the white 'Bot still sensed some eagerness for information and maybe even good news.

"Well, I've gotten some research done," Ratchet admitted, turning to face the displays. Hatake moved to stand beside him, head tilted upwards to gaze at the screens.

"I've made some calculations," the medic began, "about the ground bridges. The case with the kids back then indicates it is possible to travel through dimensions via bridges. However -" Ratchet saw as the ninja's dark eye narrowed slightly as the man listened intently, "-reality is not that simple.

"Only to travel to a dimension slightly different to ours demanded twice as much Energon as a simple ground bridge. To travel farther, to a completely different dimension we would need to multiply our whole stock of Energon." The medic glanced at the silver-haired man beside him.

"And it's not just about the amount of energy needed. It's also about the aim. We need to get you to the right dimension. And with enough force. Otherwise, well," Ratchet looked at the ninja with serious gaze," you will not make it all the way there. And that would be… unhealthy."

The masked man still had his hands in his pockets, Ratchet noted, but his posture was tense. Bulkhead stood silently behind them.

"Well, _that's_ a drag," Smokescreen commented.

"But it could be done with the bridge, at least," Kakashi stated, rubbing his masked chin.

"I believe so," the medic said. "It probably needs some modifications to work correctly. I'll look into it to get more precise info."

Hatake nodded curtly.

"And in the mean time I assume we're pretty much stuck in here, am I right?"

"Yes," Ratchet agreed. "It's the best for you to stay at the base. We don't know if the Decepticons are still looking for you."

Kakashi nodded again, but Ratchet was sure the man thought that wasn't all. Like it wasn't. But it was just too risky to let the two ninjas wander around outside. It was just like begging for something bad to happen.

And, they still hadn't told them certain things about themselves.

"Kakashi-sensei! Are you coming or not?" Naruto bellowed impatiently from the other side of the room.

The masked man sighed in slight exasperation. Bulkhead and Smokescreen laughed.

"I'll continue my research, " Ratchet said, a small smile on his lips. "I'll see if the energy problem could be somehow solved. "

"Thank you for your help, Ratchet-san," Hatake said with a small bow. "We are in great debt. "

Ratchet dismissed the words with a wave of his hand. "Just glad to help."

As the spiky-haired man strolled towards the blond boy waving from the upper level, Ratchet couldn't help but wonder how long the two ninjas would agree to stay hiding at the base. Somehow he had a feeling it wouldn't be as long as he would hope for.

* * *

Thank you for reading!

**AN:** Aaaand I'm back! The exams are over for now (I will have another super-important exam later, but that won't affect my updates yet ^^) and I can finally return to Hearts of Steel! I'll do my best to post the next chapter as soon as possible as I'm eager to finally continue this.

**As an answer for some reviews:** This takes place during TF Prime Season 2, just after Smokescreen's arrival and Bulkhead's recovery but before the finding of Star Saber. As for Naruto, it's before he learns the Rasenshuriken (I made some small changes to Naruto and Kakashi's conversation in Chapter 5 because I accidentally indicated the mission had happened before the fight with Deidara and thus before Sai's arrival... ^^'').

If you find any mistakes, please let me know. ;)


	7. Chapter 7

Beta'ed by Lohis, thank you! ^^

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or TF Prime

* * *

Will of Fire and Hearts of Steel

Chapter Seven

Naruto was bored.

It was already Friday. _Friday._ That meant they had been at the base for almost a_ week._ And that whole week they'd been spending all of their time in the Autobot base without even a glance at the outside world.

He was a ninja, damn it! He wasn't supposed to be confined inside four walls in some desolate base buried underground! He wasn't supposed to sit all day in some stuffy base with nothing to do.

Well, that wasn't entirely true. Of course he _had _things to do, just not the usual things. No missions and no training (at least not nearly as much as he had had before). Seriously, staying inside all day long (and _all_ days!) was starting to get him a real cabin fever.

He wanted to get _out_.

He wanted to breathe the fresh air and see the sun again. He wanted to see some trees like he had seen every day in Konoha. He wanted to go and visit all the places in this new world he had gotten into. He wanted to do something _useful_.

The days had passed with varying speed. At the start of the week, Miko had gotten them the language books Kakashi-sensei had asked for and his teacher had insisted that they would concentrate mainly on them now (it was so boring, like being at school all over again). Well, of course it was better to have even something to do instead of just hanging around.

Though, it always _was _fun to talk with the Autobots. Even though Ratchet was a little grumpy, especially if he was disturbed during whatever work he was doing, and Arcee eyed the ninjas with slight suspicion every now and then. Basketball matches between Bulkhead and Bumblebee were always fun to watch and Smokescreen never grew tired of telling amazing stories about battles he had fought in and how many Decepticons he had beaten up. Naruto had even exchanged a few words with Optimus Prime, though he still thought the tall robot was kind of scary with that powerful leader aura of his. But Naruto had ranked the Autobot leader on about the same level with the Hokage which automatically equaled _awesome_.

When Jack, Raf and Miko were at the base he always had a good time. The teens had shown him some absolutely cool things that apparently were quite ordinary in this world. Like Miko's electrical guitar (Kakashi-sensei hadn't been amused _at all_) and Raf's weird little machine called "lap-top". Yesterday the blond ninja had found Jack and Raf doing something with the computer and according to Jack (once again translated by Miko) they had been removing photographs of Bumblebee from something called "Internet" (Naruto still didn't understand what it actually was, despite Jack and Rafael's attempts to explain it to him) and replacing them with talking cats and other weird things. Apparently every now and then somebody managed to catch a glimpse of the robots and the teens were happy to get rid of the photos whenever they found them.

With the Internet, Naruto had learned, one could do quite a many things. Like play even more games (the racing game had been so much fun!). The three teenagers had also started to show him photos of the outside world, which was something Naruto had found overly entertaining. Miko had been utterly enthusiastic to tell him all about the photos:

"That's Jasper, our home town. It's a kind of a boring place, nothing really happens there – "

"That's Tokyo, in Japan, where I come from! I'm here just as an exchange student, you know –"

"Here's a picture from Greece, I were there once with Bulkhead, we had this super cool mission –"

"Oooh, and _that _is New York City!" (Ooh, so that was what it had meant)

Even Kakashi-sensei had been interested. The jounin had been peeking over Raf's shoulder, staring intently at the screen and everything that had been happening on it. Rafael had been quite intimidated by the ninja's sudden proximity. Naruto had been staring at the display for so long his eyes had become all red and itchy so that had been enough of computers for a while then.

And because it would have been totally foolish for a ninja to neglect the training, regardless the situation, he and Kakashi-sensei had sparred a couple of times, honing their taijutsu skills after the small break. Once before an audience because Naruto and his new friends had talked the jounin sensei into it. The other teens had been quite impressed and Miko had immediately demanded Naruto to teach her some of those "awesome ninja moves" they had used.

Okay, so the past days had been fun. But it wasn't enough to ease the growing sense of being trapped underground with those same walls around him every single day. Kakashi-sensei was probably sick and tired of listening to his never-ending inquiries whether they could go outside already.

Naruto could understand why they couldn't just go strolling outside as Kakashi-sensei and the Autobots had explained it: the place was supposed to be abandoned and the team of alien robots really didn't need any more risks of being discovered. Oh, and then there were the Decepticon folk who probably would try to snatch away both Naruto and his teacher if they just got the smallest of chances. But they had recovered a lot of their chakra reserves already, so next time they faced off the bad guys it would be _very_ different!

Surely a small peek outside wouldn't hurt, right? He could just sneak out and take a look at their surroundings and return and nobody would be any wiser. Maybe he could have done that if they still weren't almost always under the watchful eye of some of the Autobots, and there was always someone in the room with the tunnel entrance. And Kakashi-sensei's strict orders were not to use any jutsus. Well, sneaky ninja techniques hadn't ever been his strength anyway.

But he still was The Number One Unpredictable Ninja! He would find a way to sneak out, even for just a little while. He would just have to wait for the perfect opportunity.

* * *

"Man, this is so hard!"

Kakashi didn't bother to answer. Naruto had complained for the last half an hour about how hard, boring and stupid language English was. The jounin couldn't help but roll his eye every time he heard a bored and exasperated huff from the direction of his blond student. He had been right when assuming Naruto wouldn't be too enthusiastic to really try to learn the new language.

He took a quick peek over the top of his own language book and glanced at Naruto who sat cross-legged on the floor not far from him, squinting his eyes at the Japanese-English textbook in his hands. He was again wearing his usual and now clean outfit just like Kakashi. The Copy Nin had been euphoric (though he hadn't shown it, of course) about being able to wear the jounin uniform again. He had felt rather uncomfortable without it. Ninjas just weren't supposed to walk around in silly t-shirts with hearts on them.

"I mean," the boy turned the book in his hands, glaring at the text inside, "who could have possibly come up with a language like this? The letters make no sense!"

"They're just different, " the Copy Nin said without really trying to convince the boy anymore. He had been trying to motivate his student whole week without any real success. "You just have to memorize them, and then the rest gets a little easier."

"But that's it, I can't remember them!" The boy wailed. "And look at this!" He jabbed his finger at the book, scowling at whatever he was looking at on the pages. "How can that one even be a _word_?! It's probably just random letters in a row! How could anyone even try to pronounce that?"

"Treat it as a mission," the Hatake suggested a little wearily. "An A-rank if you like."

"Well it would still be a stupid A-rank mission!" The boy glared at him and the jounin chuckled.

Kakashi retreated back behind his language book. Naruto would just have to survive from this. At least the current exercise was great patience practice.

There was another bored sigh. The blond probably refused to learn anything out of sheer stubbornness. Kakashi wondered how the staff in the Academy had managed to teach _anything_ to the boy.

"Ha!" The boy suddenly yelled. "You're having difficulties too! That's like the third time you're reading that same book!"

"Hn, had to revise some things," he lied smoothly. He took another glance over his book. "Maybe you would actually learn something if you would for once actually concentrate on what you're doing."

"That's mean, Sensei! Nobody should be forced to try to memorize these things!"

Kakashi ignored his student. He had other matters to focus on right now anyway.

Naruto was right; he actually had read the book he was currently feigning to read. He had read all of the books Miko had hauled to the base, some of them more than once. The letters had been a little hard to learn first, but he wasn't called a genius for nothing and had memorized them in a relatively short time.

He thought he had improved quite nicely, absorbing all the information from the available pile of textbooks. His vocabulary was steadily increasing and while it would have probably sounded no less than horrible if he'd tried to actually speak it he could already almost understand some written texts if they weren't too complex.

His improved language skills had enabled him his new favorite pastime: eavesdropping.

There was a reason he was currently pretending to struggle with the new language. He had come to the conclusion that it would be far more useful for them if the Autobots still thought they didn't know a word in English. Naruto's antics were for once helpful as the boy's loud complaining made it even more like they both had to make a huge effort to learn the new language.

And as the Autobots still used English whenever talking among themselves, Kakashi could nicely pretend he was reading and listen to the conversation unnoticed. Though large deals of the discussions were spoken in words which meaning he had no idea about he still sometimes managed to understand at least something. Listening to the Autobots talk had also been great practice. He had once tried to translate _Miko's_ ramblings but had quickly deducted that it would require much more than simply being a genius to decipher the girl's lightning-fast chatter.

He knew the Autobots wouldn't probably be too glad to discover his new hobby and the Copy Nin felt his conscience sting a little at the thought of spying the ones that had offered them a sanctuary. But he was a ninja by heart and had been on active duty for over two decades. It was his job to gather information in situations like this. That was also the reason why he hadn't, despite Naruto's growing demands, told their new acquaintances about chakra and jutsus. He just wasn't supposed to. Keeping things secret was what he did. What he had always done.

Kakashi sighed. And it wasn't like the Autobots weren't keeping an eye on them too. The jounin hadn't made it this far if he hadn't reacted to new situations with a healthy sense of suspicion that admittedly sometimes did tilt to the direction of downright paranoia.

Kakashi banished the distracting thoughts and concentrated on the conversation going on between the Autobots. Sensitive hearing became rather useful in situations like this, he thought when blocking out Naruto's complaining and focusing on listening to the discussion. He couldn't keep this up for long anyway as the robots would, without a doubt, soon decide it would be too risky to have any important conversations with the two ninjas present.

His body language gave no sign that his focus had been directed to totally different directions than the textbook in his hands. Every now and then he flipped the page, eyes focused on a blank spot on the book and listening intently.

_Hmm… _Nothing too important, something about fetching the kids from school, later today probably… Something about the Decepticons, Kakashi wasn't sure if he had gotten that right but he assumed the Autobots hadn't heard from their nemesis for a while… And the robots were getting a little anxious, going by the tones of their voices.

Kakashi narrowed his eyes, turning a page in his book but straining his ears to hear more. He was sure he had heard a word there the Autobots had used relatively often before. Oh, there it was again. There were lots of other words which meaning he didn't know or had missed but he was rather sure he had caught one.

He snatched a Japanese-English dictionary from the floor and continued to ignore Naruto's grumbling. He flipped the thick book open, for a moment contemplating the spelling and scanning his memory for the right letters. Then he flipped the pages until he got to r and then e and started looking for the word.

After a moment of search he thought he had found the right one.

_Relic._

He stared at the word, brow furrowing ever-so-slightly. Why would they be talking about that? Maybe he had gotten the spelling wrong… But he was fairly sure this was the right one.

Kakashi closed the dictionary and put it aside, continuing to hide behind the textbook. The Autobots didn't come across as folk who would collect memoirs and keepsakes. That didn't make any sense, not when the robots' whole existence was uncertain. He had gotten the image the Autobots were more like soldiers than anything, so he doubted there would be space for mere souvenirs in their life.

Unless there was more to it.

And there was that part of the base that hadn't been introduced to them.

"Kakashi-sensei! Are you even listening to me?!"

Kakashi lowered the book slightly so he could look at his student. Naruto seemed to be on the verge of pure anguish. The kid clearly was someone who learnt by doing, not by reading.

"Sorry Naruto," the Copy Nin's eye crinkled in a smile, "this part was kind of hard." He waved the textbook in his hands.

His mind was totally elsewhere as he listened to Naruto's complaining how impossible it was to even _try _to learn the weird language.

* * *

Arcee was standing beside the wall, absentmindedly listening to the conversation taking place at the computers. Or in other words listening to Bulkhead and Bumblebee's chatter, while Ratchet pretty much tried to ignore the other two.

It was still early afternoon, so the kids were not yet at the base. Their guests were currently absent too, having left the room with Smokescreen and their textbooks a while ago.

She still wasn't happy about the situation, but Arcee wasn't going to complain about something they had already decided together. Prime was sure the ninjas would open up once they realized they were not going to be double-crossed or betrayed. Arcee just hoped their leader would be right (the Prime usually was). She was getting tired hosting these secretive soldiers like she had told Hatake almost a week ago, though the silver-haired man hadn't seemed to be even slightly intimidated by her words. And she was sure the masked ninja was up to something.

She would keep an eye on him so when he finally tried something (she just knew he would) Arcee would catch him red-handed.

Her inner musings were abruptly interrupted as there was a sound coming from the computers Ratchet was currently operating.

"What is it, Ratchet?" Arcee asked, moving closer to the displays.

The medic narrowed his eyes.

"It's a signal from…" The blue optics widened in surprise. "From Wheeljack!"

"JACKIE?!" Bulkhead hollered, nearly shoving the medic aside as he stomped to stand before the screens.

"You sure it's him?" Arcee asked warily.

"_Hello again Doc_," the Wrecker' familiar voice echoed through the room. "_Care to set up the __ground bridge for me_?"

"That sure is Jackie!" Bulkhead laughed after hearing his friends' voice. Arcee saw Ratchet rolling his eyes at the huge green mech while checking the identification beacon and the coordinates.

The ground bridge was soon ready and the medic hit the switch. The green portal flared to life before them. It wasn't long until the familiar figure of Wheeljack appeared from the glow, slowly walking to the room as the ground bridge disappeared behind him.

"JACKIE!" Bulkhead bellowed, instantly grabbing the white Wrecker into a metal-crushing hug.

"Long time no see, eh?" Wheeljack chuckled as he was lowered back to the ground.

"Great to have you back again, Jackie, " Bulkhead laughed, slapping his friend on the shoulder. The newly arrived Wrecker's attention shifted to other presences in the room.

"Hi Doc!" Wheeljack greeted Ratchet with a laugh. "Thanks for the bridge! It would have been a long drive."

Ratchet waved his hand without turning around from the computers. Bumblebee chirped happily and Arcee nodded a greeting. She noted the Wrecker looked a little battered; his white paintwork covered in scratches and a few more serious-looking cuts.

"Where's Prime?" Wheeljack asked, glancing around the base.

"On patrol. He should be back soon," Arcee answered. As Wheeljack was someone who didn't usually hang around the missile silo she couldn't help but ask:

"So what brings you here today?"

"I had a little run-in with the 'Cons. Took some nasty damage so I wondered if Doc here could patch me up. Not that I'd really need it. Just thought you might miss me by now. "

"Well don't call me 'Doc' then!" Ratchet snapped indignantly, for a moment turning to face and glare the other 'Bot. "Or I just might leave you to rust some day!"

The warrior laughed. "Sure thing, _Doc_."

Ratchet grumbled something about a ruffian and bad manners.

"So," the white Wrecker drawled. "What have you been up to lately? Anything interesting to tell?"

"Well –" Bulkhead started.

And then, Hatake Kakashi chose that exact moment to stroll to the room.

The ninja stopped dead on his tracks as soon as he saw the Wrecker standing not far from him, the lone grey eye widening.

Wheeljack frowned and turned around, noticing the ninja standing in front of the corridor entrance.

"What the – ? How many humans do you keep down here nowadays?"

Arcee noted there was a slightest of scowls visible on Hatake's masked face, as if he had understood something of the words spoken though it had been in English. But the look was gone in a flash.

"And who might you be?" The man asked evenly in Japanese, arching one silver eyebrow and looking up at the 'Bot.

If Wheeljack was surprised of the sudden language change he didn't show it.

"Name's Wheeljack, and occupation: one of the last few Wreckers around." The white mech took a step towards the man. "And you are?"

"Hatake Kakashi," came the smooth answer. "A shinobi."

"A ninja, eh?" Wheeljack snorted. In a one swift move he had drawn one of his swords, the deadly blade being taller than the silver-haired man.

"You know, I could cut you in half in less than a second, little man."

The Hatake met his gaze with admirable indifference. He suddenly had one of his knives in his hand, spinning it in lazy circles.

"And I could have this buried in your eye in less time than that, " he stated matter-of-factly.

For a moment the room was silent as the two warriors glared at each other. Ratchet followed the encounter with a frown. Bulkhead looked slightly worried. The tense atmosphere stretched, and Arcee was just about to try and explain the situation before something bad would happen when the white Wrecker suddenly let out a loud rumbling laugh.

"I_ like_ this new guy!" He said with a grin. "You got the spirit don't you, little man?" The Wrecker seemed like he would have slapped the ninja on the back if that probably hadn't lead to quite a few broken bones. "Nice to meet you, Hatake Kakashi."

Hatake looked a little confused first at the sudden change in the other's attitude but then offered a slight smile (or at least his eye curved in that funny way). "Likewise." The dagger had already disappeared from view.

Arcee explained (with a little help from Ratchet with the more scientific information and theories) the current situation with their interdimensional visitors.

Wheeljack let out a bark of laughter.

"From another dimension? Hadn't heard that one before! And Megatron is after you already? You've been busy! Tough luck."

Kakashi rolled his eye. Arcee couldn't help but chuckle.

"Though nothing has happened in a while," she said. "The 'Cons have been disturbingly quiet."

"That usually means they are just up to something nasty again, so you better watch your backs," Wheeljack scoffed. Then his attention shifted back to the ninja standing beside him.

"So, you have a friend here too?"

Hatake nodded. "My student. He should be here soon."

"If possible, that boy is even louder than Miko, " Ratchet mumbled. "My audio receptors are starting to get _abused..."_

Wheeljack laughed.

"Abused? So he's even worse than Soundwave with a resonance blaster?"

Ratchet ignored him.

The Wrecker grinned, returning his gaze to the ninja again.

"Well then I think we're gonna get along just fine."

* * *

Extra: Teaser from Chapter Eight:

"_Well," Wheeljack said, his lips twisting into a grim smile. "I think this is what they call a rematch then, eh?" The blue optics narrowed dangerously. "Wonder how you'll do now, without any nice little relics in your back pocket to save the day."_

_Soundwave just tilted his head._

"_Got nothing to say?"_

_A cricket chirped in the distance._

_There was a silent swoosh as two katanas were unsheathed. _

_The visored head remained unmoving._

_The Wrecker grinned._

"_Then let us begin."_

* * *

Thank you for reading! Feedback and reviews will be more than appreciated.

**AN: **And again, thank you so much for all the reviews, favorites and follows! I really can't thank you enough ^^ And I just had to put the sneak peek of the next chapter at the end xD

If you see any mistakes, just let me know and I'll fix them.


	8. Chapter 8

Thank you for all the feedback, favorites and follows!

Beta'ed by Lohis, thank you! ^^

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or TF Prime

* * *

Will of Fire and Hearts of Steel

Chapter Eight

"How, by the Allspark, did you manage to get injured like _this_?"

Wheeljack scoffed, ignoring the medic's scowl. "Ran into some Insecticons a short while ago. Nasty pests. One of them managed to land a lucky hit."

Ratchet rolled his optics, scanning the huge scratch across the Wrecker's chest, probably a souvenir from the Insecticon's claws. "Do I even want to know what you were doing?"

Wheeljack grinned at him. "Just looking for some action, Doc. You know how boring it can get."

The medic glared at his patient, contemplating if he should scold him for calling him 'Doc' again but decided to leave it in favor of chiding the Wrecker about his rash behavior instead. "You _deliberately_ search for trouble and then come here to get patched up when necessary, is that what you are saying?"

Wheeljack laughed. "You got it, Doc."

Ratchet refused to say any more as he would probably just get more irritated. He continued to study the wounds. Luckily it wouldn't take too long for the wounds to heal.

He had just started to work on the largest gash when there was a loud beeping sound coming from the computers.

"Don't go wandering around," the medic told the Wrecker who snorted loudly.

"Sure thing_, Doc_."

Ratchet swiftly walked to the computers to check the status. Smokescreen was once again lobbing with Bulkhead, making awful lot of noise with that stupid scrap ball of theirs, Wheeljack eyeing them enviously. Bumblebee was talking with Optimus and the scout was enthusiastically telling something to their stoic leader, waving his hands animatedly. The only one absent was Arcee who had left to scout the area not too long ago. Their ninja guests had, after meeting Wheeljack, retreated back to their room.

Ratchet narrowed his eyes at the screens before making a surprised noise.

"It's – It's an Autobot identification beacon!"

There was a loud thunk as Bulkhead dropped the scrap ball.

"A _what_?"

Ratchet was quickly working on the computer, attempting to make contact with the possible Autobot refugee. According to the beacon the signal was coming from northern Alaska, in the middle of wilderness.

The other Autobots gathered behind him to follow the situation.

"Are you able to contact them, Ratchet?" Optimus asked, staring at the displays with the flashing dot on the map.

"I'll try," the medic said. Then he cleared his voice box and started:

"This is outpost Omega-1, do you copy?"

There was no response.

"This is Ratchet of Team Prime, what's your status?"

Nothing.

"It could be a trap," Ratchet said, turning to face the others. "It wouldn't be the first time the Decepticons used an Autobot identification beacon to lure us out."

"But we can't be sure," Prime said in a grave tone. "We can't overlook it if there's even a small chance that there is a fellow Autobot out there, asking for our assistance." Optimus looked at his team. "Bulkhead, Bumblebee, Smokescreen, get ready to roll."

"Yes, I've been waiting for some action since forever!"

The medic rolled his optics at Smokescreen's over-enthusiasm. Seriously, the rookie would end up in spare parts someday soon if he wouldn't get more responsible.

Speaking of irresponsible 'Bots…

"So, when do we leave?"

Wheeljack strolled to stand with the others, a grin on his slightly scarred face. Ratchet frowned at the white Wrecker.

"Didn't you come here to be patched up? You can't go fighting in that condition."

Wheeljack shrugged, his smile clearly saying don't-be-ridiculous-Doc-like-that-could-keep-me-fr om-fighting.

"Come on, Doc, you already did your job, and it's not like those little scratches would slow me down."

"I barely _started_ fixing you, that doesn't mean I'm anywhere near ready!"

The Wrecker scoffed, but his without a doubt snarky response was never heard as Prime intervened.

"Wheeljack, it would be better for you to stay at the base," Optimus stated, fixing the ruffian with a neutral but stern gaze. "There is no need to take unnecessary risks."

For a moment Ratchet thought Wheeljack was going to object, but in the end he just rolled his eyes as if the matter didn't really even interest him. "Whatever you say, Boss."

As Ratchet opened the ground bridge and watched half of Team Prime walk through it he almost wished Optimus had taken Wheeljack with them so the medic wouldn't have to deal with fight-deprived annoyed Wrecker. The white 'Bot sighed and shut the bridge, watching the green light die out.

While he continued to patch the other 'Bot up Ratchet wondered if all the Wreckers had been as immature and reckless ass Bulkhead and (especially) Wheeljack. He wouldn't be surprised if that was the case…

"So," the Wrecker drawled, clearly still annoyed about being left behind but at least attempting to start some conversation, "strange ones, those little guests of yours."

"They sure are, " Ratchet replied, frowning at the wound he was healing at the moment. "Not something I would have ever thought would happen."

"Yeah. I mean, ninjas from other dimensions? I would have thought it a great joke if I hadn't met the little guys myself."

"So you liked Naruto then?" Ratchet asked, smiling amusedly.

"He's like another version of Miko, only even louder. If that's even possible," Wheeljack let out a rumbling laugh. "So the kid's got spirit."

There was a small silence between them and Ratchet moved to fix the next, fortunately smaller wound.

"What do _you_ think about them, then?"

Ratchet met the Wrecker's eyes briefly, slightly surprised at the other's enthusiasm in talking with him.

"Well, " he began, squinting his optics at the nasty scratch on Wheeljack's arm. "They sure are interesting, though they are not telling awfully lot about themselves. Optimus says they'll speak up when they realize we're not going to double-cross them or something."

"Yeah. Wonder what they are hiding, though."

Another silence descended upon them and Ratchet continued to quickly and efficiently patch up the wounds.

Suddenly another beep from the computers disturbed the peace of the unusually quiet base.

"What now?" The white-and-red medic grumbled, walking back to the screens, Wheeljack at his heels.

It took only a moment for Ratchet to find out what was going on. He narrowed his optics at the map appearing on the screens.

"What is it, Doc?"

"There has been some activity in one of the abandoned Decepticon Energon mines that we are keeping an eye on," Ratchet explained. "It's supposed to be stripped clean so there's no reason for anyone to wander around there."

"Apparently that's not the case," Wheeljack noted. "Someone should check it out."

Ratchet nodded. They couldn't afford to overlook anything that could possibly cost them any Energon resources.

"So," Wheeljack said impatiently, nodding towards the computers. "Just open the bridge and I'll take care of it."

"Tsk! Did you not hear me earlier? You're in no condition to fight!"

"You already finished with the serious ones," the Wrecker pointed out. "The rest are barely scratches. And you know _someone_ must go, and you'll have to stay to operate the bridge. So, unless you have any other ideas, just get it over with."

Ratchet frowned deeply but couldn't fault the other 'Bot's logic, no matter how much he wanted to. He nodded grimly and set the coordinates for the portal. In no time he was hitting the switch and the green glow once again lighted up the room. "Just don't get yourself killed. All my _hard _work would be for naught."

"Thanks for the help, Doc," Wheeljack said, ignoring his warning and walking towards the ground bridge. "I'll be back in no time."

* * *

He watched as the swirling green portal appeared to the room. He made sure he would remain unseen in his hiding spot as Wheeljack walked to the ground bridge. This. _This_ was his chance. The base was almost empty and the only remaining Autobot would be Ratchet. The medic turned his back to the portal when Wheeljack disappeared into it.

_Now!_

He dashed soundlessly towards the portal, boosting his speed with chakra so he could reach the gate to his freedom before the medic would shut it down.

_Almost there…_

He ran into the green glow just when Ratchet hit the switch again.

When the ground bridge had faded from existence there was no sign of the ninja in the room anymore.

* * *

Wheeljack stepped out from the portal and into the gloomy woods. The afternoon sky was covered with thick dark-grey clouds and the gentle breeze of wind brought the smell of rain with it.

The forest was silent. A little too silent, in fact. He had been looking forward to a decent fight, not a Sunday stroll. Though it could always be just that famous calm before the storm.

The glow died down behind him, leaving him in the gloom. The Wrecker let a lopsided grin spread on his face. It was nice to help Team Prime again and he was glad he could do it on his own this time. It was time to get ready for some serious 'Con-cutting.

"Whoa! Where are we?"

…_You got to be kidding me._

"What do you think you're doing, kid?" The Wrecker asked in a very unamused tone, turning around to face Uzumaki Naruto who stood some steps behind him. The blond boy was looking around curiously, turning his head like an owl as he tried to see everything at once. _It's just a forest. What is there to see anyway?_

"Getting some air, of course!" The boy declared, meeting the Autobot's gaze with a stubborn glare. "Do you know how long I've been stuck in that place? It was about time I got out a little!"

"And you decided to do it now? Just because this place is quiet now doesn't mean it couldn't soon be crawling with 'Cons."

And that was apparently the wrong thing to say.

"_Cool_!" Came the excited reply. "I was looking forward to a rematch."

Wheeljack snorted.

"A rematch? Come on, you're just a –"

"I'm not a kid!" Naruto countered, voice fierce and blue eyes blazing. "I've been a ninja for three years! I can take care of myself!"

Wheeljack narrowed his eyes, taking a step towards the little annoyance. "You might be a good fighter back home, kid, but that doesn't mean that same rules apply here. You've seen, what, one 'Con and you think that's enough?" Wheeljack let out a bark of laughter. "You wouldn't stand a chance."

Naruto seemed to be less than happy about the Wrecker's attitude. Then there was a foxy grin spreading on his face.

"So, what I need is to see more action! If I can follow you around and watch you fight, the next time I see bad guys I'll be able to beat them!"

The blond boy smiled smugly at him, clearly proud of his reasoning.

Wheeljack sighed mentally. Why couldn't this heist have been just a simple 'beat out the 'Cons' –job? He hadn't signed up for babysitting or arguing with human teenagers. Why did the kids always tag along? He felt kind of bad for Bulkhead for a moment. His friend had to deal with the little pests even more. Okay, maybe a pest was too harsh a word; they were cool kids after all.

And on top of all they were running out of time. The 'Con Ratchet had spotted wouldn't loiter around and could be gone at any second while he spend his precious time by bickering with a child.

If his old team from the war had seen him now they would have laughed until their voice boxes stopped working. Or until he had beaten the Spark out of them.

But if the kid would stay out of trouble… (yeah, right), it could be good for him to see some real example of taking out a 'Con. And on top of that, the white Wrecker couldn't help but feel sympathetic for the young man who had been forced to stay inside four walls the whole time. Wheeljack knew he would get mad after just a few days (or hours) of imprisonment.

"Fine then, " he said and Naruto let out a victorious 'Yesss!', "you can tag along but stay out of sight, got that, kid? I didn't come here to babysit you."

"Yes sir!" The blond saluted him with a huge smile on his face. Wheeljack thought this might be A Very Bad Idea, but there was no more time to waste and if the kid really was a ninja then he should be fine, right?

He really hoped he would be alright; otherwise there would probably be a very angry grey-haired ninja back in the base and he would like to keep his optics functioning, thank you very much.

"Let's get going then," the Wrecker said, turning and starting towards the direction he had been about to head before the interruption. When he glanced behind him Naruto had disappeared from view. _At least he does as I say… For now._

Wheeljack mentally shook his head. It was time to concentrate to the mission at hand. The mine wasn't far and neither was the Decepticon. He flexed his fingers, ready to grab the swords at the moment he saw a trace of the enemy.

There was a clearing ahead and the Wrecker strode to the edge of the woods and halted there. A large cliff loomed in front of him on the other side of the clearing. His optics locked on a large crack on the rock. The cave entrance, he thought. There was nothing out of ordinary in sight and the forest was as quiet as the space itself.

Just when he was about to start towards the mine entrance there was a distant sound of footsteps echoing from the cave and the outlines of a slim figure walking towards the woods appeared to the sight.

Wheeljack changed his posture into a fighting stance as his mask slid into its place. He buried the urge to glance behind him. He would just have to trust that his new 'sidekick' was smart enough to really stay hidden.

And then a blue-and-black Decepticon strode from the darkness into the gloomy afternoon.

Wheeljack's optics narrowed. "So it was you, " he said. "Guess there's no point in asking what you were doing in an empty Energon mine then, eh?"

Soundwave had stopped in front of the entrance, staring at the Wrecker. Or at least he _looked_ like he was staring at him. It was always hard to tell with the creepy Communications Chief.

Oh, this was going to be interesting.

"Well, "Wheeljack said, his lips twisting into a grim smile. " I think this is what they call a rematch then, eh?" The blue optics narrowed dangerously. "Wonder how you'll do now, without any nice little relics in your back pocket to save the day."

Soundwave just tilted his head.

"Got nothing to say?"

A cricket chirped in the distance.

There was a silent swoosh as two swords were unsheathed.

The visored head remained unmoving.

The Wrecker grinned.

"Then let us begin."

He darted forwards, leaping into the air and bringing the swords down at the Decepticon. Soundwave dodged the attack at the last second, backing away. Wheeljack's swords hit the ground and the Wrecker grunted, spinning around and slashing the katanas at the dark-colored 'Con. Soundwave swiftly evaded, stepping to side and bringing one arm to block the next swing of a sword.

The Wrecker growled, advancing nonetheless and stabbing the other sword at the Communications Chief's midsection. Soundwave dodged and the next thing Wheeljack knew was one of the silent 'Cons tentacles rushing towards him. The Wrecker hit it aside, determined to keep the blasted things away from him. This was _not _going to be a repetition of their last encounter.

The fight continued and the two robots moved around the clearing, slashing and kicking and evading and blocking. It had started to rain, big lazy drops falling from the skies. The water was running down the Communications Chief's visor and dripping from the two unsheathed swords as Wheeljack once again dashed forwards, aiming a deadly strike at the 'Con's head. Soundwave tilted his helm away and the blade only slightly grazed the side of his head.

Then, for a moment, the blue-and-black Decepticon looked like he was looking at something over the Wrecker's shoulder. Wheeljack grinned behind his mask, racing towards his opponent in a vicious lunge. But apparently Soundwave's attention was back on him (if it had ever wavered) and the 'Con deflected the strikes, but couldn't block the powerful kick the white 'Bot aimed at his chest. The dark robot flew backwards to the ground but stood up almost immediately, way too graciously for someone who had just been kicked. Wheeljack pressed on relentlessly and the fight continued, the only sounds aside the rain being the loud clangs of metal hitting metal.

The Wrecker was forced backwards as the violet-veined tentacle shot towards him. He hit it aside but couldn't quite dodge the next one that managed to grab him by the shoulder and hurl him to the other side of the clearing.

_Scrap_, the Wrecker thought while picking himself off of the ground, glancing furiously at the advancing 'Con.

As another one of the tentacles came down towards him he swatted it away with a swing of his sword, then aiming another strike at Soundwave. The blade made a long scratch across the other mech's chest and Soundwave staggered back, fingers grazing the gash.

Wheeljack raced forwards triumphantly, ready to plunge the other sword to the 'Con's chest and finally end this.

There was a sound of approaching flyers, clearly audible over the rain. Wheeljack's optics widened a bit. _Reinforcements?_

A clang echoed in the clearing as Soundwave once again blocked the strike with one arm.

Wheeljack snorted. "So you're calling back-up then? Couldn't handle me on your own?"

Soundwave just tilted his visored head and Wheeljack had the creepiest of feelings that the other mech was _smiling_ at him.

He suddenly remembered when he'd thought that Soundwave had seen something behind him…

The Wrecker kicked the other robot away and swiftly retreated a bit, shouting over his shoulder.

"Naruto, RUN!"

The was a roar of jet engines loud enough to make the white 'Bot feel like his audio receptors had been split apart as five flyers raced over them, right towards the woods were Naruto was apparently hiding.

Wheeljack started to run after them but then he felt something grab his door-wing from behind and one of the tentacles threw him to the opposite direction. He landed heavily to the wet ground.

The Wrecker raised his gaze as he stood up, optics blazing with silent fury and locking onto the dark 'Con standing between him and the woods.

"You know you can't keep me here long enough, 'Con, " he spat, tightening his grip on the swords.

Another rumble of turbines split the air and someone landed behind him.

"But the two of us will certainly be more than enough, Wrecker."

Wheeljack spun around to face Dreadwing who was just straightening and watching him with cold look in his red eyes.

_Scrap._

_Double scrap. _

Wheeljack hardly had time to evade Soundwave's tentacles reaching him. The air was filled with the roar of Dreadwing's machine gun. How had everything went downhill so fast?

"Hey Doc!" Wheeljack shouted through the CommLink. "I really wouldn't mind some back up now!"

The medic's urgent voice came through the link. "_What is it, Wheeljack?"_

"Soundwave, Dreadwing and a bunch of flyers, if you must know. Just send someone here! The kid might need help." _And me too, but I'm not going to say it aloud_, he though while lunging at Dreadwing, swords cleaving the air and rain.

"_The kid_?" Ratchet's voice was confused before the realization dawned at him. "_Is_ Naruto _there_? _What in the name of Primus were you thinking _-"

"Now's not the time for pointing fingers, Doc."

"_I'll call for reinforcements_." Ratchet's voice was tight and Wheeljack was glad the medic didn't waste more time bickering. "_Just hold on, Wheeljack_."

"Sure thing, Doc." _Though that might be easier said than done_, the Wrecker thought grimly as he adjusted his grip on the blades, ready to face the two advancing Decepticons.

* * *

Arcee was walking through the empty corridors of the missile silo. Nothing unusual had happened during scouting. The deserts had been desolate and with no signs of enemy activity so she had ended up just driving around the silent roads.

After a long drive around the base she had returned to the silo only to find it almost as empty as the deserted roads. Ratchet, once again absorbed by his work had been hunched over the computers, curtly explaining that the others had left for missions. Nothing crucial, apparently, as there had been no contacts through CommLink from either party. Arcee had left him with his work and headed to check their interdimensional visitors.

Her opinion about the two ninjas had hardly changed over the week. She still thought nothing good could come from keeping two strangers who had told almost nothing about themselves in their only sanctuary against the Decepticons. But Optimus Prime was still sure they would eventually open up.

Arcee scowled. She had kept her opinions to herself after the first few days but she couldn't bury the feeling of uneasiness whenever the ninjas were in the same room.

The blue femme sighed. Maybe she was paranoid. But she didn't want to take any chances either.

She reached the room in which their guests were camping in and found no other than Hatake Kakashi strolling through the open door.

"Ah, afternoon, Arcee-san," the grey-haired man said, smiling that infuriating eye-smile of his.

"Afternoon." Arcee didn't smile but tried to avoid looking too suspicious or annoyed. She glanced at the shutting door and asked: "Reading with that student of yours again?"

"Oh no, Naruto left a while ago. That boy can't concentrate on things like that for too long," Hatake replied smoothly.

Funny, Arcee thought. Didn't see him with Ratchet either. She was just about to voice her thoughts as Kakashi spoke again.

"Came to check we are not tearing down the base, Arcee-san?" The ninja's voice was just a little too amused.

Arcee arched an eyebrow. "Is there a reason to?"

The blue 'Bot had a feeling the man in front of her was smiling again but he couldn't be sure with the mask and all. "I think we promised we were not going to cause any trouble."

"And I think I said I don't trust you."

Kakashi rolled his lone eye but before he could answer Arcee turned slightly away from him, bringing one hand up to receive the message through CommLink. "Yes?"

"_Arcee_!" Ratchet's voice was urgent. "_Get here right now and bring Kakashi with you_."

"What is it?" She saw the ninja frown as he tried to deduce what was being said on the other end of the conversation.

"_Wheeljack's in trouble_. " A short pause. "_And Naruto too_."

Arcee's blue optics widened a bit and she glanced at the man beside her. There were dozens of questions swirling in her mind but she pushed them aside. Instead she replied: "We'll be there."

She let her hand drop as she turned to face the ninja, a serious look on her face. "Let's get going. Your student is in trouble."

* * *

Naruto was running.

He dashed through the woods, jumping over fallen trees and puddles and avoiding moss-covered stones. There was a sizzling sound behind him and the ground below his feet exploded. He jumped away, rolling on the forest floor and quickly scrambling up. This was _not_ how his first fight with the Decepticons should have gone.

He had stayed hidden just like Wheeljack had told him to, sneaking in the bushes and behind the trees but still closely following the fight happening in the clearing. And what a fight that had been! A death match between two gigantic robots certainly was among the coolest things he had ever seen and would probably reach to the top of the list. And he had been closely observing how the particular blue-and-black robot had fought. Kakashi-sensei would be proud of him (after his teacher was done scolding him for leaving the base, of course).

He had been almost sure he had stayed away from sight but apparently that had not been the case as suddenly there had been a bunch of flying (_flying!_) without-a-doubt-Decepticons heading right at him, shooting read beams of light towards him.

And that's when he had decided it would be better to retreat a bit.

He avoided another beam of deadly light, continuing to run. But running wouldn't save him in the end. He needed to fight back.

He stopped dead on his tracks as one of the enemies landed right in front of him, transforming into a black-and-violet robot with wing-parts draped behind its back. It turned its visored helm down at him and aimed a triangle-shaped weapon straight at him.

_Uh oh_, he thought and quickly leaped behind a large rock as the red, burning beams of light shot past him.

_Now,_ he though determinedly, hands flying through familiar seals, _it's show time!_

"_Kagebunshin no jutsu_!" he shouted and a bunch of clones appeared around him.

"Okay, let's go guys!" He cried and darted behind his cover, the doppelgangers right behind him.

There would be no use using kicks and punches against this foe. The freaking thing was made of metal and Naruto was smart enough to realize that he would just end up breaking his hands, even with chakra enhanced attacks.

The Decepticon took a few steps back when the group of clones and one original ninja rushed forwards. The beams of light, nearly as tall as he, shot through the rain, hitting two of the clones which disappeared in puffs of white smoke_. That's not fair_, Naruto though while running towards the 'Con, trying to get behind it as the clones distracted the robot. However, the amount of kagebunshins was quickly decreasing as the robot mercilessly shot them down.

_Now!_ Naruto thought and couldn't help but grin when starting to form the next jutsu with one of his remaining clones.

"_Rasengan_!" He shouted, the ball of swirling energy in his hand as he dashed towards the tall robot that was just about to turn to face him as the last of the other clones dispersed in white smoke_. Too late_! Naruto thought and slammed the Rasengan to the robot's side.

There was a screeching sound of crumbling metal as the Decepticon's side exploded in sparks and bits of scrap. The 'Con staggered back and fell to the ground, trying desperately to get back up despite the grave injuries.

"HA! Take that!" Naruto shouted, triumphantly punching the air. But there was no break for him as there was another blaze of red light shooting past him and hitting a nearby tree with a loud crash.

"Oh come on!" Naruto grumbled, evading the next shots. Another Decepticon (looking just like the first one) had landed, running towards him and firing all the time with the triangular gun.

While dodging the rapidly fired shots he formed another set of all too familiar handsigns. Six more clones poofed to existence beside him.

"Okay, let's try the same tactic!" Naruto shouted at his kagebunshins, circling behind another large rock and racing back towards the robot. One of his clones was already hit and met its demise in a cloud of smoke. They were dropping like flies. He should try to end this as quickly as possible.

He dodged another beam of red by hair's breadth and jumped away from the splinters of wood when another shot hit a tree behind him. There was a roar of turbines and another flight-mode 'Con rushed over him, firing its own set of red beams that again reduced the number of the teen's shadow clones.

_Whoa,_ Naruto thought, his mouth now a grim line. _This is harder than I thought_. _Though I am quite badly outnumbered._ He really hoped Kakashi-sensei would be here to aid him. But for now he was alone and that would have to do.

He was about to dash past the Decepticon when the robot suddenly, instead of attempting to shoot him slammed its fist down at him. He jumped away, rolling on the ground and scrambling up into a crouch. One of his clones jumped and kicked the 'Con in the head. The attack had no real effect but it was a welcomed distraction as the Decepticon turned to get rid of the clone.

The blond was up again and forming another Rasengan with the help of one of the shadow clones. Then he was running towards his foe, jumping on a rock and aiming the Rasengan-filled palm to the back of the neck of the 'Con who was busy getting rid of the remaining clones.

There was another sound of exploding metal and the Decepticon dropped to the ground, unmoving.

"One more down!" Naruto grinned, landing in a crouch over the fallen enemy and straightening.

He had no time to dodge as a one more Decepticon was suddenly flying towards him.

The red bolt of light hit the ground right at his feet and he was thrown backwards by the blast, landing roughly on the forest floor wet from the rain.

"Ow ow ow…" he groaned, rolling on to his back. His body felt battered but fortunately not broken though he probably had some quite colorful bruises forming. He was just about to drag himself up again when the third Decepticon landed practically on him. He let out a shout of surprise and fright but had no time to evade when the robot brought one of its claw-like hands down, piercing his right forearm and pinning it to the ground, making him cry in pain.

_Damn damn damn_! He thought frantically. The thing _knew _how he used his jutsus and was quite efficiently preventing him from using any techniques. _This is bad._

The red-visored head turned to stare at him eerily as the 'Con crouched above him.

Naruto swallowed.

_Not good. Not good at all._

* * *

Thank you for reading! Please let me know what you think.

**AN:** Don't you just love cliffhangers?

I must apologize for the long wait. I had a small writer's block on the stories I should have been updating. I'm sorry if some of you thought I had abandoned this fic but I'll assure you that won't happen. ;)

Yeah, I know it might have felt like I have been stalling the story but really, one thing I hate to do is to rush the plot and I thought I just couldn't write the action part before a proper start.

And I haven't written fight scenes like this before so they might be a little off. Anyway, I hope you liked this chapter, I'll try to post the next one in a couple of weeks!


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